I think you&#x27;re right, but your last paragraph is crucial.<p>The reason I&#x27;m doing front-end development is because I enjoy it. I&#x27;m not doing it only to &#x27;get shit done&#x27;. And part of that enjoyment means not always having to deal too much with other people&#x27;s choices, because sometimes they feel like straitjackets.<p>So as long as the client doesn&#x27;t suffer from me making choices based on enjoyment, I&#x27;m going to use RethinkDB, React for the back-end, and roll out my own custom-built CMS if I so desire. Because I&#x27;m responsible enough to know when this is okay, and it&#x27;s just <i>hella</i> fun to do.<p>But yes, when in doubt lean towards the thing that has been tried and tested over your own (possibly disastrous) sources.<p>But also no, the most I&#x27;ve learned has been by making terrible choices and having to figure things out, <i>truly</i> figure things out myself instead of relying on frameworks from the start.<p>I mean, it&#x27;s not like things will explode when we fail in the front-end world, generally speaking.