As developers we often plant our flag in a particular lane or technology and then ride that wave as long as we can. Sometimes it’s because you really enjoy that thing and just want to keep using it, sometimes it’s because you think that’s the best move for your career, or sometimes you’re force to based on the kind of field you work in.

But after you’ve worked for a while, you end up building up biases for and against particular technologies. This happens a lot if you look at front-end and back-end as us vs them, or server-rendered vs single-page apps for example. Because you are in your community of like minded people it’s very easy to see self-affirming words everywhere such as “well at least we’re not using X” or “wow, look at what they have to do over there when using Y”. This makes you feel much better about your own choices and that you’re doing the right thing.

As a long time Ruby on Rails developer I find myself thinking the same thing quite often. So once in a while, I like to dabble. I go outside of my comfort zone and try all those things that I hear the horror stories about that other Ruby on Rails developers tell. After all, there are entire businesses and conferences and thousands of people using these other technologies: they can’t be all that bad, can they?

So rather than just read about things online about what other people say, I give them a try. Build something real in a way that feels completely foreign to you and goes against all your instincts based on how you create things day to day. Dive in to a new world and follow their best practices as best you can. It’s the only way you’ll get close to truly seeing what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes.

For me, there’s absolutely no downside to doing this.

If you like what you find, maybe it’ll spark a new interest or you’ll find a new passion for technology. Maybe it’ll even entice you to find a new job just so you can use it.

But if you don’t like what you experienced, that’s OK. When you return to your old faithful, you’re all the more grateful for what you had all along.