I'm a web sysop and support engineer. My skills are mainly in back-end: Java, Linux, Python, PostgreSQL, Git, and GitLab. Currently I'm learning front-end skills: JavaScript, and Ruby.
I see some of what you mean - the relentless "Top X for Y" is prominent and always gets included in the roundup emails and front page... as if there was some kind of algorithm driving it. I know that there is not -- there are people behind the decisions for which articles to feature, and their focus at present appears to be to uplift and promote the new starters. I applaud this, but it leads to the selection effect we're seeing.
On the other hand, I am mindful of the outrage in computer magazines of the 1990s when HyperCard became popular, and the developers then bemoaned the uprising of "cookie cutter spaghetti card stacks, cobbled together by amateurs". That's totally the wrong mindset, and glaringly backwards-looking with the hindsight of the game Myst (made by non-programmers), and the Web, which exploded only a few years later.
So my take is really that:
More experienced developers, from fields other than the web platform, need to be encouraged as much as up-and-comers have been
There needs to be more variety in the kinds of content featured by the DEV.to team
The first drives the second, though. So we need to get cracking on posts.
I'm guilty too: I've been lurking here for a couple years with no posts and only the occasional comment.
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
We're a place where coders share, stay up-to-date and grow their careers.
I see some of what you mean - the relentless "Top X for Y" is prominent and always gets included in the roundup emails and front page... as if there was some kind of algorithm driving it. I know that there is not -- there are people behind the decisions for which articles to feature, and their focus at present appears to be to uplift and promote the new starters. I applaud this, but it leads to the selection effect we're seeing.
On the other hand, I am mindful of the outrage in computer magazines of the 1990s when HyperCard became popular, and the developers then bemoaned the uprising of "cookie cutter spaghetti card stacks, cobbled together by amateurs". That's totally the wrong mindset, and glaringly backwards-looking with the hindsight of the game Myst (made by non-programmers), and the Web, which exploded only a few years later.
So my take is really that:
The first drives the second, though. So we need to get cracking on posts.
I'm guilty too: I've been lurking here for a couple years with no posts and only the occasional comment.