In the several years I’ve worked as a dev professionally I’ve seen the same pattern happen over and over again: a new tech/library/framework comes out that develops a very vocal fanbase, it manages to gain widespread adoption/traction, with time the warts come out, eventually some people sour on the technology and we get an uptick on “Why our team moved away from X”, some more informed than others.

I’ve seen it happen in various degrees to React, Docker, Microservices, Kubernetes, Rust and I’m sure I’m forgetting others.

Certain problems in software are so complex, that there’s no one size fits all solution. The problem with the early fanbase is that it tends to be a self-selecting group in one way or another. When you read someone’s anecdote that library/framework X “was a delight” you don’t always know for example that it was maybe used by a group of 3 devs for a startup pulling $50k in MRR. Will the same apply for you team that is 10x bigger? Maybe. The opposite can be true where you have some project get open sourced by a tech giant which gets adopted by smaller teams with very different needs or resources.

My point is, if you hear outsized praise for something it’s likely because it’s early in the hype cycle or it hasn’t seen enough wide adoption. No solution is perfect.

It’s better to take a look yourself since no one else will know your or your teams needs and preferences. This is where the buzz can come in handy. It can highlight new technologies worth trying out. You’ll usually learn something new in the process.