The Tech They Said Was Dead
By: Jetter Garcia | Date: November 8, 2025
A lot of new developers get pulled into learning whatever tech is trending online. Scroll through socials and you will see people pushing the newest frameworks like they are the only way to succeed. It can feel like if you are not catching up with the latest stack, you are already behind.
I’ve been a victim of this myself. I chased trends, thinking that learning the newest frameworks would guarantee me a job… and reality slapped me. Every day, there’s a new “modern tech” claiming it will replace the old ones, but in reality, enterprise systems don’t work that way. Companies keep running on what works, and they won’t throw away years of stable infrastructure just because something new is trending online.
That said, it’s true that modern tech often solves more problems, can be more optimized, and sometimes has cleaner, less verbose syntax. Learning these tools keeps you current and can make development faster and more enjoyable.
Learning modern tools is good. It keeps you curious and growing. But when it comes to landing a job, especially your first few, the reality is not always what you see online.
Many beginners focus only on React, Svelte, Next.js, or whatever is hot at the moment. Then when it is time to apply for jobs, they realize they are competing with a huge number of other juniors who learned the same thing and built similar projects.
Meanwhile, there is a large part of the job market that many overlook. A lot of companies still rely on tech that has been around for years. These tools may not trend online, but they run real businesses. Developers who know them are always needed.
The tech that some call “boring” is actually stable, trusted, and deeply used. PHP and other old technologies are not outdated. They are reliable and power systems that affect millions of people every day.
This does not mean you should ignore modern tech. You can still learn your favorite frontend tools. Just do not limit yourself to only that.
A strong approach is to learn both:
- Keep exploring modern frontend tools like React or Svelte
- Pair them with a solid backend like PHP/Laravel or C#/.NET
This gives you more opportunities because you are able to work with both new features and existing systems companies already use.
The hype online will always change. But the tech that quietly runs the world stays. If you know both, you are not just following trends. You are building a career with options.