Three, I have a pet theory. Indulge me. We have noted before that there is a lot of overlap between software engineering contracting and, say, carpentry. Key difference: once a cabinet is done, it's done. There isn't any need for follow up, enhancements, new requirements, changes. However, if you make a software project so complicated that only you or someone with very similar experience can make changes to it, you drive up the likelihood of capturing the benefit of a future income stream. This is also the impetus behind very complicated frameworks: the more people adopt your complicated solution, the more likelihood they drive business towards you.
Lastly, this crowd isn't going to like this, but the solution in other engineering disciplines is standardisation and opinionated off the shelf solutions. It's that or wrestling with complexity forever.
One, if you search for the word complicated on HN, the top hit is the same complaint from 2019. This isn't getting better. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20637849
Two, from the discussion in February, web development is literally the worst job in the USA for degree of change in complexity / lack of ability to build career capital over time. This is (and will in the future) driving talented people out of the profession. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24910949 https://whoisnnamdi.com/never-enough-developers/
Three, I have a pet theory. Indulge me. We have noted before that there is a lot of overlap between software engineering contracting and, say, carpentry. Key difference: once a cabinet is done, it's done. There isn't any need for follow up, enhancements, new requirements, changes. However, if you make a software project so complicated that only you or someone with very similar experience can make changes to it, you drive up the likelihood of capturing the benefit of a future income stream. This is also the impetus behind very complicated frameworks: the more people adopt your complicated solution, the more likelihood they drive business towards you.
Lastly, this crowd isn't going to like this, but the solution in other engineering disciplines is standardisation and opinionated off the shelf solutions. It's that or wrestling with complexity forever.