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Software engineers in the web development space are used to the "JavaScript framework fatigue," where new frameworks and libraries come out every other day, diversifying the playing field while scattering standards and adding layers of complexity, raising the bar of entry for new joiners. Compared to the "web development" lessons I learned at RMIT 15 years ago, the industry today is oversaturated with (mis)information that overshadows the fundamentals that should instead be underlined for young web developers today. Thus, a project at my R&D firm, DKLAB, was born to help level the playing field.
I've been working in web development since I was a student at RMIT. In fact, I picked "Multimedia Systems" as my major due to it being the only track at the time offering web development courses. Throughout the years, I've seen web specs take shifts in maturity and standardization. Most have been for the better, except for the fact that the huge popularity of this "crafting art" brought a humongous amount of specifications into the industry, and naturally, not all specifications are equally sustainable.
Over the years, layers of tools and libraries have been added on top of "traditional web development," hyping old and new engineers alike. Veteran web developers worth their salt know how to "filter," i.e., pick correct values out of new information and throw away low-quality noise. It's hard to say the same for young engineers joining the workforce. To this end, at DKLAB, I've pioneered a "back to the basics" web framework that aims to strip away the noise from modern web development, retaining the fundamentals of what makes a web page work.
For those who know it, it is just HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and the Internet browser rendering visuals and facilitating interactive experiences. When I initially presented the idea on HackerNews (a Y Combinator forum), among the supporters were some skeptics (as expected), but the 200+ GitHub stars that followed suit added to my confidence that this project does hit the pain points for someone out there. That was a proud moment for me, but furthermore an example of "bringing the idea forward without analysis paralysis": when we're passionately working on something, we should also seek good opportunities and media to talk about it in public; the praises are nice to have, but industry feedback and insights are the must-haves.
My education at RMIT was among the factors that played into my drive to contribute to the R&D sector and build the needed media exposure for my work. I hope to continue benefiting from my RMIT network to pursue professional feedback for my work while proliferating industry best practices.