web development, from what I read online, has become incredibly complicated. We have more compiler tools, more javascript frameworks, more build tools, and an even more complex way of deploying software to servers.

A few years ago, this was not the case. There was no docker, no build tools required and no complications around deploying software to the servers. SFTP to copy files over and single or a few compiled javascript files did the trick with HTML / CSS.

As I wrote the above two paragraphs, I realised I sound like a grumpy person.

Famous internet startups, though, made many people believe that the way they were building software was the way to build software. You needed all these extra tools. They needed all these additional tools to scale up, but most companies started adopting these tools from ground zero, adding a few weeks/months to the development process.

Maybe we should get back to starting small. No build process, single or multiple JS files, simple deployment process and look at adding this to the stack as we face challenges scaling up. Get back to enjoying building software rather than spending time debugging a tool that you could do without at the early stages of development.

There is no great art without passion.