I think "what HN likes" here is throwing you off. I don't think this is about fashion.
Good programmers care a lot about good tools. Different tools also have different communities, which means different views, different standards, different approaches.
I've done projects with great tools and projects with shitty tools. For me, it makes a giant difference. I can spend my energy on solving real user problems, or I can spend it on beating back the idiocy of bad tools. I can spend it on learning from a community that is serious about pushing the field forward, or I can spend it trying to motivate a bunch of no-hopers who picked programming over dentistry because the Computer Information Systems degree was shorter.
I think it's totally reasonable that this person wants to avoid the mire of clock-punchers and half-assed enterprise tech imposed for "business reasons". They're trying for a tactical retreat, not abject surrender. That's the spirit I think HN should support.
Good programmers care a lot about good tools. Different tools also have different communities, which means different views, different standards, different approaches.
I've done projects with great tools and projects with shitty tools. For me, it makes a giant difference. I can spend my energy on solving real user problems, or I can spend it on beating back the idiocy of bad tools. I can spend it on learning from a community that is serious about pushing the field forward, or I can spend it trying to motivate a bunch of no-hopers who picked programming over dentistry because the Computer Information Systems degree was shorter.
I think it's totally reasonable that this person wants to avoid the mire of clock-punchers and half-assed enterprise tech imposed for "business reasons". They're trying for a tactical retreat, not abject surrender. That's the spirit I think HN should support.