This is not a surprise for me, but if you are new to the modern web development and working on Javascript stack, chances are that you come acrcoss these in everyday life. It may come from anywhere, your collegue, your senior, may be from an interviewer. But the cool thing is, you are right in those cases. All you have to do is ignore them and move on. I had seen this while working on Flash platform, when people were saying things about Flash and Flex. Now the platforms are changed but situation are same.
- NodeJS is a different language.
- NodeJS is not javascript.
- NodeJS is bad for not having X, which Y language has
- Jquery is a different language.
- JQuery is not javascript.
- JQuery is better than javascript.
- HTML5 is a programming language.
- HTML5 is different from HTML.
- Have you worked on HTML5? If yes, have you worked on DOM?
While I could answer to all these in single lines but then the interpretation would be wrong.
The point is people coming from traditional languages like, Java and C# and still working on those, think they know all. I would suggest, please come out from that and even if you want to target JVM, use a modern language like SCALA instead. Well, if these guys try to code in a modern platform like NodeJS, they suddenly make the simple solution, to a complex process, as per the old knowledge they were having. Even the elegance of these new modern platforms like Ruby, NodeJS etc seem to be bad in their eyes. Well, the problem is these guys are sitting on top positions in traditional service based companies. So, if you join one of these companies, or even appear for interview in those companies, chances are you will come across these scenarios. The best part is, you are right and they are wrong. So no need to feel bad if they talk like that. Just ignore and move on but never leave learning.
Another big problem for working in frontend is, these conventional people think, they can do a better architecture in frontend too, just because they can use an ORM in backend. So all those frontend elegant solutions provided by modern stacks will be bent according to these guys to a point where the elegance becomes a pain for you as a frontend developer. They will talk that “we had done these before this way”. Common, that way is over, that time is gone. Now learn something from the modern stack developers and make an elegant backend. I have even seen, these backend guys mentoring ObjectiveC guys, how to do an iPhone Application architecture, without knowing the iOS environment. This is not specific to iOS, but any mobile platform in general. Web is not mobile and there are different considerations and architecture depending upon the platform. While the modern web stack has changed and you simply do not understand it, how you can mentor a mobile application developer! Talking of backends, these guys even think traditional databases are the best, no need to try any other. They even hesitate to try a NoSQL! Common! Thats backend, at least update yourelf there before coming to frontend. Ask any new modern stack web developer, they will blow your mind with the stuff like NoSQL to responsive web applications. Even the enterprise is shifting to modern stack, but these are people who hold on to the past.The end result is, everyone suffers. But again, if you are new to the scenario, then do not worry, they will learn from their mistakes and all these time you have to live with it. All these, for someone on top does not know how to deal with new technology.
My honest suggestion to all you people starting your career in web development is, learn from the web, there are plenty of brilliant tutorials and examples available online and move on. Better, if you can, shift to a company where they know, what they are doing, rather than what they used to do.
Happy Coding.