How has web development gotten here? It just seems to have evolved so much needless complexity to me.
Don't forget about web components! Integrated into the platform.
But you're right. I haven't done much front-end at large scales. Only at one employer for a short while.
Perhaps it makes more sense to treat frontend engineering as thick client desktop development of yore. Websites are no longer small, simple things, they are now the primary apps that many people use (through the broswer and especially through Electron), so there needs to be sufficient tooling around managing that complexity.
I used to get worked up about front end devs calling themselves "engineers" but after 12 years in the trade, I think my dream team of web devs consists of more industrial engineers than CS grads.