The Forgotten Rule In Software Development: Why Fundamentals Never Change
Tags: webdev, career, programming, productivity
Published: 2022-03-03 08:05:18

**[Note: You can read the article or watch the video directly on YouTube here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQr1Ndd8C-I&t=12s)**


[![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/2b0wku11qjsgm5jx7gf7.gif)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQr1Ndd8C-I&t=12s)

In the 19th century, the invention of photography killed realistic painting.

Some artists like Picasso started doing abstract art.  

What happened next?

The next generation started directly with Picasso.

They thought they didn’t need to learn the fundamentals of realism and older styles.

This imitation game killed much of the post-Picasso art and the same is happening today in software development.

**Fresh developers are building their careers on frameworks and libraries, without ever understanding programming fundamentals.**

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/fnq7zacypsdla511lveu.jpg)

The Weeping Woman (French: La Femme qui pleure) - Pablo Picasso, 1937

In the case of the Web, you see people talking about GraphQL when they never ever designed a proper REST API.

The result?

**Constant doubts on technical skills, trial and error learning, mediocre salaries, and burnout.**

The "community" seems to forget that the people that invented those shiny frameworks and libraries already mastered the fundamentals.

Such as good old client-server architecture.

And while everyone is starring at the same Medium article trying to imitate rockstar programmers.

Smart developers are looking elsewhere…

This brings me to the main point of this article:

**First, be a good crafter, you’ve got plenty of time to be a genius later on.**

If you want to stay relevant in this field and become that go-to developer in your team...

...you must first get back that sense of craft.

Now, you might ask yourself, how can I also do that?

Sure you can read books, watch YouTube tutorials and hang around with other more senior developers.

In reality, life gets in the way. Fast forward 3 years and you find yourself starring at the same damn code, same salary, same job.

Been there, done that.

**Or you can take a simpler path (simple and more effective).**

You can get mentorship from someone that actually knows what they are talking about.

Someone who also systemized the process to help a dozen other devs do the same.

In 2022 that someone is me, Dragos.

March is almost booked but we still have some spots left.

**Interested?**

[Click here right now and book me personally for a 45m minutes call](https://www.codewithdragos.com/schedule) (only evening spots available) where we will find out if and how you can get to that next level with ease.

If we see fit we can even decide to work together.

Remember, unless you take action and move close towards that crafter attitude.

Unless you get a good grasp of the fundamentals and work on your software mental models, good luck being someone in this field.

**As always, the choice is yours.**




-Dragos

**P.S.** I know what you are thinking. Oh, this is cool, but I don't trust you. Of course, you don’t. And I know why. As developers, we are skeptical of people because people are skeptical of us. Product managers question our estimates. Tech leads question our code. Colleagues question our suggestions. And you question them back. In the end, we give what we receive, don’t we?

Yet, we don't see others how they are, we see others how we are. Skepticism is holding you back. Is holding you back from taking action. Decisions imply risk. Things won’t always turn out the way you wanted. Worst-case scenario, you learn something new. Best-case scenario, you changed your life for the better.

If you ask me I choose that instead of blinking at a computer screen for months asking myself _**…what if?**_