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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2028 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 31, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Does it matter what programming language a company uses as long as the choice is reasonable?

For example, if a startup making a CRUD app uses JS/NodeJS or TypeScript/NodeJS or Java or Golang? Does it matter if the company uses Vue, React, Svelte or just plain HTML/JS? Obviously it does matter if there are languages specifically used in an industry or if there are special requirements. Python is a terrible choice for an operating system. But if the goal is to make an internal tool for a company, a booking system for a hotel chain, or a billing system does it matter?

Do tech choices impact business success, or are we entertaining ourselves by playing with the next cool tool?

Yes. Not only the technical aspect but people aspect too. You will have a much harder time hiring Ruby on Rails devs in 2024 as opposed to say... NodeJS devs. For simple crud apps, that isn't a complex tech product, it doesn't really matter than much technically. I (not even a web dev) can make you a simple crud app with flask or express and postgress and deploy it in vercel in a week.

I think it matters in that different communities have different cultures. And that can nthn order affect the success of the product.

The people aspect is huge. This is why I want to work at Jane Street. Also because OCaml is amazing and HFT is challenging and because of the pay, but the people this attracts is why it's I think the only place for which I'd be willing to deal with snow and commuting instead of remote work from paradise.

Rust? Good luck getting business logic done over the din of nerds playing with a type system. Java? You're gonna get a culture of boring adults. Javascript? Scrappy startup types who may not write tests, they ran it like twice.

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