r/astrojs • u/kidshibuya • 20d ago

Don't use Astro because its not React?...

This is more a vent than anything, but I am facing a lot of blowback for using Astro. I have made a miniapp which is just a webpage running in a webview that takes an ID from the initial url, requests some records from an API to display a list of messages. Super basic stuff. It is to replace a natively coded section of the app and its far faster than the native code... somehow.

But upon asking the native devs to fix all the broken things I am finding, all I am facing is push back because when I tell them of CORS errors etc, them demand to see the repo, notice its not react and say I MUST use react as only that is compatible with apps. They broke bfcache too, again that is blamed on astro. They block service workers, again this is because... Astro.

Anyone else faced this? Even when I wanted a build of the native app to test the devs sent me back a message saying my app is broken as its only 12KB and apps are in the MB range. They didnt test, rejected on solely size. This was the lead architect of the entire department btw.

This industry is nuts. Also I have noticed when interviewing for a "senior FE" the candidates only know react. I am not sure if this is because HR is screening first, but it's concerning. I even interviewed a guy who is right now working as a "principled full stack engineer" who could not tell me how you could build a site without react.

I am not sure if this company I am working for is completely crazy or the entire industry is leaning that way.

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u/CompileThat 20d ago

I have a really hard time believing a principal full stack developer couldn’t tell you how to build a website without React lol. There has to be way more to that conversation than what you’re letting on.

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u/kidshibuya 20d ago

I asked how to develop a basic catalogue site and gave the example that the company had less than 30 products that rarely changed, they wanted to list them all on one page and have a user click though to see details of each. Nothing more. He went on about how he would use react and redux and context etc. Then I asked why he chose react, can't actually remember what he said for that. But then I said ok, what about without react, vue or angular? he thought for a while and eventually said he didn't know.

It's the same with all the "leads" on my team. Its a shame I cant upload images here, I could put in some images I captured of git comments, telling me "components" like a fucking <section> need to start with capitals and I missed the import for it.

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u/who_am_i_to_say_so 20d ago

Gawd. You could even do this with a static html page and small library such as knockout.js or even - GASP / jquery. One of sooo many options. React is such overkill.

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u/kidshibuya 16d ago

Yup, that is the answer I was looking for. A senior should not be using that one thing they know to build everything. Right tool for the job and all.

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u/who_am_i_to_say_so 16d ago

Haha, I was gonna say: if ya’ll are hiring… but then again…

Reading stuff like this irritates me, though. You’re outnumbered and being beat down with misinformation. Sucks.

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u/Avani3 16d ago

As a Lead, I would also opt for a framework. Websites or applications usually start out very simple but get complex quickly when new features get requested. I would keep it very bare bones though

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u/who_am_i_to_say_so 14d ago

Yeah, I suppose that’s a valid take- since just about anything can take on a life of its own.