1) I like to think I'm getting more efficient everyday? Some days yes, some days no. There are so many tools to learn, it's hard to learn it all, but I like to think I grow everyday.
2) I like using tmux with teamocil to setup my dev enviornment. I mainly use react boilerplate for my frontend, with yarn and django or flask on the backend running in virtualenv, using virtualenvwrapper. When I startup my teamocil/tmux session, I open several panes that contain frontend and backend dev servers, and it opens other panes that then open up the frontend and backend repos in Atom. Having this easy to reproduce dev environment has saved me countless hours, and it's nice to follow the identical process for new projects (reduces cognitive load, if docs are missing).
3) I adapt by getting frustrated about something enough to I seek out a better solution. Also I read hn often and look for interesting frontend tools/trends.
4) I work as a full stack dev at a small healthcare nonprofit. I am one of 2 full time sw engineers.
5) Antiquated build systems + bureaucracy would kill my vibe. Also disruptive would be inefficient or ineffective communication channels between design team or PMs or customers/clients.
#2) Did you have any difficulty getting those build tools and stacks to work together? I've done a (very) small amount of work using virtualenv and Flask as part of the CKAN framework for open data portals. Haven't approached integrating more complex front-end tooling yet, so I'd love to hear about what kind of challenges you've overcome if any. I don't fully understand how the current build system works on the backend but do believe jQuery is packaged in by default.