I Don't Like This Tech Stack

Engineers can sometimes be eccentric, but when it comes to favorites, they are just like everyone else. They have their favorite shows, sports teams and music bands, but above all, they have their favorite tech stacks. It is not uncommon to come across engineers embroiled in a spirited debate over what technology is best suited for a particular problem or even a make-believe scenario that is better left to the imagination. Once they commit to a stack, they are loyal to the bone and will fight for it, and in some cases even leave their jobs for it. I myself am not immune to this and have had my own share of experiences with stacks I loved and hated, especially in my younger days. Admittedly, it is difficult not to form a strong opinion about something we use for several hours every day. But over the years, with experience, I have started to take a less sentimental and more practical approach towards the choice of stacks to use. And in this edition, I wanted to share some of my thoughts and reflections on the never ending debates around tech stacks.

Purpose over stack. First of all, unconditional loyalty to a stack is not a virtue because technology is merely an instrument of convenience in a world rife with ever-changing business conditions. Ultimately, any stack is simply a means to an end that should be selected strictly through the lens of the value it delivers to a business. It may have the best developer experience but is it stable enough? It may have the most active developer community but is it performant? The questions go on and on. In the end, a decision needs to account for all the right trade offs and settle on the right technology for the right business problem. And as employees, we may be initially attracted to a company for the stack it uses but we are not likely to last if its core business doesn’t appeal to our grander needs and sense of purpose. As such, our loyalty to the business should always supersede our loyalty to the stack.

Make it better. One obvious option when faced with this problem is to do what engineers do best and fix whatever it is we dislike about this stack. One of the reasons why engineers are biased against certain technologies is because they have strong opinions on how they should have been built. And if the opportunity to work on these technologies exists, it is worthwhile for any engineer to make the improvements they seek or at least push for them in a meaningful way. Engineers should not be defined by the stacks they use and they should instead try to impose their will on these stacks by changing and wielding them as they see fit. This not only allows them to make material impact on the business through these foundational improvements, but it also spells critical growth in their ability to cross boundaries and engineer their way around a variety of technical problems.

Make our case. But sometimes the opportunities to make these improvements simply may not exist. Perhaps the stack is closed and not easily amenable to third party improvements. Well, if a stack is measured by the value it brings in the service of the business objectives, it is fair to assume that the business preferences for that stack are simply born out of practical needs, and, by the same measure, open to practical challenges. If we can make a convincing argument for why another stack is better suited for the business, more often than not, our case is likely to get some serious considerations. In the end, if the company accounts for the different perspectives in making a reasonable decision that is absent ideology, we can at least take comfort in the fact that the business is exercising sound judgement, regardless of the final outcome.  

Sometimes that outcome is not to our liking, and we may see the situation as untenable and feel compelled to leave. But we would be wise to first consider if the stack was the primary reason we came to the company in the first place. Stacks change all the time but companies and their values seldom do. So we need to lay our ideological preferences aside for a moment and try to make a practical decision just like a business would. The fortunes of any stack rise and fall with the businesses that use it. And for that reason alone, a stack is far more likely to evolve in order to accommodate the needs of its users than a business is likely to evolve to be a better fit for a stack. And that is why we should always join a company we love and bring the good fight on the right stack instead of chasing a stack into or out of a company we have little care for. But most importantly, much like everyone else, we need to carefully choose our purpose because the day we let stacks decide our purpose for us is the day we consign ourselves as instruments without purpose. Let that purpose be strong in all of us.

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