Evolve or Become Irrelevant

Adapt or die. It’s a harsh reality, but in tech, it’s true. You can’t just learn one programming language, stack, or toolset and call it a day. If you’re not evolving, you’re falling behind. Tech moves too fast for that.

Staying Comfortable is Dangerous

Let me be blunt—comfort is a trap. If you’ve been using the same tech stack for the last five years without learning anything new, you’re already behind. It’s easy to stick with what you know, but tech doesn’t care about your comfort zone.

Take jQuery. Ten years ago, it was everywhere. You couldn’t browse a job board without seeing it listed as a requirement. Fast forward to today, and while jQuery still exists, it’s been largely replaced by frameworks like React, Vue, or Svelte. Why? Because developers evolved. They saw a better way to manage state and build more dynamic, component-based architectures.

If you stuck with jQuery because it was easy, you’ve likely found yourself scrambling to catch up now. It’s the same with tools like Bootstrap. While still popular, more developers are moving towards TailwindCSS (including me) because of its utility-first approach, which allows for more flexibility and faster customizations.

Here’s the code to compare a simple button in Bootstrap vs. TailwindCSS:

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<!-- Bootstrap button -->
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<button class="btn btn-primary">Click Me</button>
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<!-- TailwindCSS button -->
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<button class="bg-blue-500 hover:bg-blue-700 text-white font-bold py-2 px-4 rounded">
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  Click Me
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</button>

Notice how TailwindCSS doesn’t rely on predefined classes like Bootstrap’s btn-primary

With Tailwind, you style things directly, giving you more control. That shift in flexibility is part of why Tailwind is gaining ground. You can get things done faster, with fewer overrides, and more control over how your design looks and scales.

Learning New Skills Isn’t Optional

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was this: “Never fall in love with your tools.”

The second you stop learning is the second your skills start becoming obsolete. Take me, for example—I’m currently learning Rust. Why? Not because I’m bored, but because Rust solves problems in ways other languages I’ve used (like Go or Node.js) don’t.

Here’s a quick example of why Rust’s ownership model is so powerful:

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fn main() {
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    let x = String::from("hello");
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    let y = x;
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    println!("{}", x); // This line will throw a compile-time error
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}

In Rust, once you assign x to y, x is no longer valid. Why? Because Rust ensures memory safety by preventing double ownership. It forces you to think about how you manage data. It’s a steep learning curve, but once you get it, you’ll wonder how you lived without it.

Rust’s compiler error tells you exactly what’s wrong, guiding you to a safe solution. It’s tough love, but it’s love nonetheless!

By learning Rust, I’m not just adding a new language to my toolbox—I’m gaining a new way of thinking about memory management and performance.

Netflix’s Evolution

Netflix is a great example of a company that evolved. Back in the day, Netflix was a DVD rental service. Then, they pivoted hard into streaming. That wasn’t just an upgrade—it was a total reinvention. Imagine if they hadn’t evolved. We’d be talking about them in the same nostalgic tone as Blockbuster.

They didn’t stop there, though. Netflix has since evolved into a massive content creator. House of Cards wasn’t just a gamble on original content; it was a signal that Netflix wasn’t going to just stream other people’s stuff. They were going to become their studio.

If Netflix didn’t evolve from DVD rentals to streaming, and then from streaming to content creation, would they still be relevant? Doubtful.

It’s Not Just About Languages

Sure, learning new languages and frameworks is important, but evolving isn’t just about code. It’s also about how you approach work.

For example, GitHub Copilot is a big shift in how we write code. It’s an AI-powered code completion tool that can take care of the boilerplate code for you. Some devs are hesitant to use it, afraid it might take over their job. Here’s my take: if you don’t use it, you’re already at a disadvantage. Copilot is not going to replace you, but it will make you faster. If you don’t adapt, the dev next to you who does use it will be running laps around you.

Imagine we’re working with an array of objects representing users, and we want to filter out inactive users while also calculating their average age. This is where Copilot shines, generating useful code without much effort.

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interface User {
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  name: string;
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  age: number;
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  isActive: boolean;
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}
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const users: User[] = [
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  { name: 'Alice', age: 25, isActive: true },
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  { name: 'Bob', age: 30, isActive: false },
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  { name: 'Charlie', age: 35, isActive: true },
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];
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// Filter out inactive users and calculate the average age of active users
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const activeUsers = users.filter(user => user.isActive);
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const averageAge = activeUsers.reduce((acc, user) => acc + user.age, 0) / activeUsers.length;
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console.log(`Average age of active users: ${averageAge}`);

By using Copilot, I didn’t have to think through each step, and it generated code that made sense for what I was trying to achieve. It’s a time-saver in practical scenarios, not just trivial ones.

Evolving Doesn’t Mean Chasing Trends

Now, evolving doesn’t mean jumping on every new shiny thing. Not every trend will stick around, and you don’t want to waste time learning something irrelevant in a year. The key is to stay curious but selective.

Instead, focus on trends that solve the real problems you’re facing. Astro is a great example. It’s solving the issue of sending too much JavaScript to the client by offering a zero-JS by default approach. If your site performance is suffering because you’re sending down megabytes of unused JavaScript, Astro might be worth looking into.

Here’s an Astro component that outputs minimal JavaScript:

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---
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const posts = [
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  { title: "Evolve or Become Irrelevant", description: "Why staying relevant in tech means adapting to new technologies and trends." },
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  { title: "The Power of Rust", description: "Exploring Rust and why it's changing the game in systems programming." },
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  { title: "JavaScript Fatigue", description: "How to avoid burnout in the ever-evolving JS ecosystem." }
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];
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let searchQuery = "";
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function handleSearch(event) {
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  searchQuery = event.target.value.toLowerCase();
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}
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---
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<h1>Blog Posts</h1>
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<input type="text" placeholder="Search posts..." onChange={handleSearch} />
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<ul>
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  {posts
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    .filter(post => post.title.toLowerCase().includes(searchQuery))
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    .map(post => (
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      <li>
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        <h2>{post.title}</h2>
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        <p>{post.description}</p>
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      </li>
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    ))}
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</ul>

We’re creating a static list of blog posts, and we’ll include a small search bar that filters the posts. The search bar will be interactive, but Astro will only send the JavaScript required for that interaction. The rest of the page remains static.

No unnecessary JavaScript gets shipped with this. If you don’t need interactivity, why send JS at all? That’s the kind of evolution that makes sense—solving real problems with practical solutions.

If you’re not evolving, you’re becoming irrelevant. It’s that simple. Whether it’s learning a new language like Rust, adapting to a new workflow tool like GitHub Copilot, or even changing the way you structure your applications with frameworks like Astro, you’ve got to keep moving forward.

Comfort is a killer in tech. Stay curious, stay sharp, and don’t get left behind. You don’t need to overhaul everything at once. Start small—experiment with a new language, framework, or tool, and see where it takes you.