7 Strategies to Stay Sane in the Never-Ending Tech Hype Cycle

03 Jun 2025 #misc

As developers, we can’t agree on much: tabs vs spaces, what “unit” really means in unit testing. But one thing we all agree on? There’s too much hype. And it’s exhausting.

A new faster better AI tool promising to kill jobs, “X% of code is generated by AI” at every FAANG, and the stock market reacting to those announcements.

Olga asked on dev.to how we stay sane in all these hype.

Here’s what I do to stay sane:

#1. Pick the right battles. After some years, we reach a point where we should find peace in what we choose to learn and what to ignore. I consider myself a backend developer and I’m fine missing out on every new JavaScript framework or “something.js” library out there. That was a battle I decided not to fight anymore.

#2. Start an information diet. Find one single source of “official” information. Maybe company blogs or newsletters or trusted YouTube channels.

#3. Prefer long-form over short-form content. Books go through a solid vetting process before they reach us. But social media content goes viral without any vetting process and builds up the hype.

#4. Invest in what has passed the test of time. What has already survived the test of time will outlive recent trends. We’re still using C/C++, SQL, and jQuery, and reading about stoicism. Chances are those same subjects will survive another decade or two. I wouldn’t bet all my money on it, though.

#5. Wait for the dust to settle down. Again, just see what stands after months or years. Xamarin, Silverlight, Flash… All of them are gone. And just last year, we got Devin, the first AI software engineer. That was the first threat to our jobs. It was all over the headlines. These days? I haven’t heard about it since then.

#6. Embrace just-in-time learning. Instead of learning about every new shiny object, learn how to learn. And learn about new frameworks and tools in the context of real-world projects. I changed my mind about trying to learn about everything at once. Recently, I finished Skip the Line and learned fast learning strategies.

#7. Understand there will always be a new hype. I’ve seen the cloud, mobile apps, and now AI. And guess what? There were dozens before and there will be dozens more in the future. Let’s see what stands after the hype fades.