&gt;&gt;If you&#x27;re not a front end developer, then why is it a technical exercise to learn all this stuff?<p>There are many reasons. For one thing, a lot of developers are &quot;full-stack&quot; and don&#x27;t have the luxury of focusing on just the front-end or the back-end. For another, learning new tools, frameworks and methodologies will make you a better overall developer.<p>&gt;&gt;Personally, I don&#x27;t want to learn things that will be obsolete in a few years.<p>Better not work in web development then. It&#x27;s probably the fastest moving subfield in software and there&#x27;s no guarantee that what you&#x27;re learning today won&#x27;t be obsolete in a few years. So your best bet is to learn as much as you can, rather than putting all your eggs in one basket that you think will last a long time.