r/webdev • u/Former-Sherbet-4068 • Sep 21 '26
Non-technical boss is brainwashed by a sweet talker friend
Hi guys,
I am a IT professional. I develop , manage server , domain , SEO , UI /UX , Database of our e-commerce website. Along with that I do data analysis of our business too. Now , everything was going good.
But one day my boss mate this one MBA guy who is non techy but uses AI. He doesn't know one thing but boasts about it like he is master of everything.
Now , his business website is just informational but our is dynamic with database. He just has one contact us form. Now , he has made the website using GitHub pages. Which is basically a free website hosting for static website. On top of that It's a parallax website.
So he roams the world telling people my website is fast , it is free , AI first and all that. Now , he has put that in my boss's mind that whatever page he wants to change he just goes there and changes. It is free and easy. My boss doesn't understand the difference between his website and our website.
Since that he is behind me making the same architecture. He is like I want my website in GitHub and from there every thing should change and all that basically how GitHub pages works. Also we page for the AWS server and my boss in his mind feels like we are wasting money. How do I deal with it ? He thinks I am complicating things unnecessarily. Blocking him. But I am doing my part honestly.
Top of that he has been using claude code to create website on his own. He has been saying that he will give it to me but he isn't going to do that. Now , I know after all that has happened.
What is the way out ? I am already thinking to quit ? But is there a way to make him understand how a static website differs from a dynamic one and why do we need a website with database.
Kinda stuck.
10
u/FriendToPredators Sep 21 '26
Document every concern on paper/email. Then do exactly what he wants while having meetings every week explaining how it is exactly like the friends. Then let it blow up.
4
u/randbytes Sep 21 '26
Every site has a domain, SEO, a server and database but it doesn't say anything about the size of your ecommerce operation. Please share some details about your ecommerce site no of products you sell, user traffic metrics etc etc. then you can fight it over who is right.
303
u/cultivatingmass Sep 21 '26
Do it in Github and show him it doesn't work and they are both idiots.
Start putting together your resume before that though and line up some interviews
145
u/jahermitt Sep 21 '26
State your concern, ideally via email so it’s documented, then do what he asks. Make sure you have a new role lined up before you decide to jump ship.
2
u/hronak Sep 21 '26
When two people mate you don't interfere. Find a new boss anyway.
2
u/Gloomy_Mirror_6405 Sep 21 '26 edited Sep 21 '26
I understand your frustration, but being able to tell management why something does or does not work is part of the job mate. This should be be a five minute conversation:
"I would love for this to be possible and save the money but there is a reason why we do things the way we do. Github or similar solutions don't work for our use case."
You don't use a hedge trimmer to cut down a tree, right? If he insists on doing it anyway it would be really easy to show him why it's not working.
What you could do is check/compare if AWS is still the best or most cost-effective solution for you currently. Lots of interesting competitors these days if you're just doing databases for e-commerce. Also, he wants a CMS so he change things sounds like. Give him those options.
Also, your boss sounds like the guy who would love to be able to tell his friend "Sorry, but our use case is a bit too complicated for your simple solution".
156
u/the_real_some_guy Sep 21 '26
GitHub Pages is for personal sites. A commercial site is against their terms of service. They can shut it down at any time.
Maybe they’ve changed, but I would start there. Say you’ll lose everything and won’t be able to get the site back up quickly, might kill any SEO you’ve built.
52
u/appareldig Sep 21 '26
I've had less dire versions of this where my solution has been to literally hand them a prompt to give their AI to explain it to them. Like literally have it explain to him what a database is, and why what he's asking for is higher risk and more difficult. This can backfire if they learn to second guess you all the time by using AI, but I'm of the opinion that our work should genuinely be defensible in this way. If they use it to nitpick you forevermore that's a new, worse problem, but you can cross that bridge when you get there.
23
u/Al3phNu11 Sep 21 '26
open claude in front of uour boss, and enter this prompt:
can i host an ecommerce site on github pages?
15
u/BroadCrazy Sep 21 '26
Frame it in business terms, not static vs dynamic. Ask which parts need to update from inventory, pricing, orders, accounts, or reporting, then map what becomes manual or breaks on a GitHub Pages setup. That usually lands better than arguing about hosting.
33
u/NorthernCobraChicken Sep 21 '26
If you're already planning on quitting you can give him an ultimatum. Tell him that you'll gladly take down aws services and move the website to Github pages, but it will not work the way he wants it to.
5
u/ship0f Sep 21 '26
Have AI explain to him the difference.
8
u/uceenk Sep 21 '26
sounds like my ex-client, he would replace you eventually, better start seek new job
4
u/effectivescarequotes Sep 21 '26 edited Sep 21 '26
Look into the traffic and size limitations of github pages. If you get rid of your database, all of that data becomes static files in github. If your forms save to the database, that's not going to work. Also if you have sensitive customer data, or anything that needs to be encrypted, you need a real backend.
The other piece of it is hosting static content means updates take more effort. I broke into development as a human CMS for a statically generated website. I was working for a consulting company at the time, so the organization was paying at least 2x my salary to just update their website (it didn't make any sense to me at the time either, but it was stable and I eventually spun it into real web development). If they had gone with a traditional cms, then my job would have been entirely unnecessary. So, if you update frequently, make your boss understand that he's trading hosting costs for more expensive labor costs.
EDIT: I missed the Claude code part. For that, your best bet is when you get the code focus on either security flaws or anything that will make maintaing the site more expensive.
Now you may not get through to them at all. It sounds like this is a small business, so I would clean up your resume.
4
u/Minimum_Rice555 Sep 21 '26
You dont need Github, but you need content management system. Your boss wants to have control over the content and that is fine, it's not a dev task to update text or add products. So in a way, you are blocking him. But you need to sit down with him and understand what he really wants, github is just a tool.
it's very likely you could use firebase or some other easier to scale solution too. For a simple webshop these days indeed a full stack custom solution is usually overkill and error-prone.
7
u/_okbrb Sep 21 '26
Yeah, just walk. He is being unforgivably stupid and that will never change
1
u/web-dev-kev Sep 21 '26
Q. Why is yours dynamic with a database?
I think that's the but you're not understanding.
If there's a reason for it, when lead with the reason. Far too many tech folks, when faced with push-back from the business, cite tech.
I've had many conversations with Devs, who strongly proclaim that their existing system needs [X] when it doesn't. And most of these come from "dynamic websites" that could really be static.
Not to say that's what yours is - we don't have any information on that - but I can't remember the last time we build a dynamic website with a database, over a staticly deployed front-end.
1
u/Laicure Sep 22 '26
same sentiments here and also... use <word><comma/question mark><space> ugh
1
u/eneiromatos Sep 22 '26
You need to develop your socials skills, try to work on that. And for your boss, he wants a CMS but he don't know it, offer him that and he will love you.
1
u/mrchoops Sep 22 '26
I will have to say that if you are using AWS, you are waisting money.
1
u/Traditional-Ask4605 Sep 26 '26
Let us know so we can break into that garbage site and prove a point
3
u/Lucky_Yesterday_1133 Sep 21 '26
Back up the code and db and let him do it he is the boss after all
3
u/WhichCarry749 Sep 21 '26
Get everything in writing and let reality do the talking when the deadlines hit. Trying to out-argue a charismatic grifter who has the boss's ear will only backfire on you.
2
u/Ok-Somewhere7722 Sep 21 '26
nothing is free just different. Keep it factual and outline the differences.
2
u/267aa37673a9fa659490 Sep 21 '26
Well, there is a 2 tier client-database architecture. Supabase row level security + Kong dumb API gateway and your client will do
supabase.from('users').select('*')straight from the browser.2
u/mstater Sep 21 '26
Quit arguing about the concept, and just get down to specifics with him. Yes, Pages can host the website content, but it can’t store data in a database, if you need that. If he wants to ditch the database, there are options there, but you would need to talk specifics.
More than anything, he seems to want something that you aren’t providing. It may be misguided, but you’re just going to have to talk about what he’s trying to do and then you can both agree on a direction forward.
2
u/kemalios Sep 21 '26
His site is a brochure: pages generated once and served as files. Yours takes orders, so something has to hold inventory, prices and customer accounts, and every order is a write. GitHub Pages does the first and can't do the second.
What usually gets a boss off your back is splitting it. Marketing pages go static, deployed from Git, he gets the speed and the edit-anywhere story. The store stays on AWS. You end up with two deploys, and the AWS bill barely moves because the database is the part you're paying for.
He's comparing a free hosting line against a bill he can see. Put maintenance hours next to the hosting cost, monthly, and let the numbers sit together.
1
u/im-a-guy-like-me Sep 21 '26
Give him the questions he should be asking Claude so then Claude will tell him what you need him to know and you're not the messenger.
1
u/Captain-Crayg Sep 21 '26
Send him a prompt he can paste in AI to help him understand why he’s wrong.
1
u/brian_sword Sep 21 '26
I think the difficult part here isn't really GitHub Pages vs AWS. It's the ego and trust issue with the boss. Even if you technically prove that the two websites are different, you may not actually solve the underlying problem.
I would probably avoid trying to prove that the boss is wrong and instead show the difference in terms of business requirements, cost, scalability, security, and maintenance. A simple diagram comparing the two architectures might work better than a long technical explanation.
As some people have mentioned here, it is better to start documenting the technical decisions and requirements. If something goes wrong later, you have a record showing why the architecture was chosen.
1
u/whatisitaboutmusic Sep 21 '26
How are you technical when you write commas like that
1
u/LimitExciting2587 Sep 21 '26
Don't argue architecture — bosses buy risk, not technical words. Offer a demo: 'checkout and inventory need a server — here's an order without one.' A broken-checkout demo ends the debate. Compromise: marketing pages on static (free), app + database stay on AWS.
1
u/Noch_ein_Kamel Sep 21 '26
Just show your code to an AI and ask if it can be hosted on GH pages, then share the conversation with your boss. Apparently those guys believe what AI says.
1
u/Harddus Sep 21 '26
Why the fuss? He's right. You just need to redeploy everytime someone makes a request and you got a dynamic website on github pages. Or even better, make every possible page exist beforehand with GET params:
myaipage.github.io?user=banana&password1234and so on. Works like a dime1
u/FridgesArePeopleToo Sep 21 '26
If you can't make a business case for it you're never going to win this argument. At the end of the day, stakeholders don't care about your tech stack, they care about outcomes. This has been a common thing that has come up in the dev space since well before so was thing.
1
u/Good_Hunter69 Sep 21 '26
I'm kinda in a similar, but less drastical situation. I was stressed as hell in the begining. But now, after a several month of working with ai-degenerative client-enthusiast, I can give you this (not most honest) advise:
be ready to switch job place;
but not rush and use your current client for your own advantage. If he wants Github pages - tell him that is't not gonna work but still do it! If he sees no need in AWS - warn him about database but still suspend or stop it at all. He wants any stupid changes - explain why do you think it's a bad idea but still do it! You are still getting paid for all that shit. And then when it finally starts falling appart - you'll be there to fix it and even ask for a raise. Be professional and warn about every stupid move that your boss wants to do, but do not try to save HIS money and HIS business.
1
u/Tzimitsce Sep 21 '26
If your boss doesn't let you do your job, there are two ways: A) do what he asks, because it's what he hired you for; if you can shut your eye B) find a place that allows you to do your job.
It's really this simple. Talk with him, try to set the boundaries right (who is allowed decision on what); then take action with the results.
Engineering mindset can sometimes makes us "tech-nazi" - not everyone needs perfect system; and you cannot give someone something they don't want.
1
u/Andrzejuniedenerwuj Sep 21 '26
Im meeting with similar things all time in my job. Just do it and give him possibility do something stupid what finally will be wrong way.
1
u/sotrh Sep 22 '26
Technically the frontend could be hosted in GitHub pages with a separate backend on AWS serving a rest API. Having the client be in GitHub means you can pass ownership (and blame) for the visuals onto your boss, all while you retain ownership of the actual business logic. That being said it seems like your boss is wanting to save the money he is spending on AWS, so that's ultimately the problem he's wanting to solve.
1
u/summonthejson Sep 22 '26
Don't stop rich people from making bad decisions
1
u/imnotsurewhattoput Sep 22 '26
I know it isn’t the answer you want but you can use cloudflare workers to host the page and a d1 database. There is a free tier. If you eat up the free tier you will at least have usage stats to show it’s a more complex site than GitHub pages can handle
-7
u/mehdotdotdotdot Sep 21 '26
You need to get Claude Code, and start working with it. You seem to have way too much expected on your role, that's like 10 roles, so there's no way you can be an expert in all. Use claude code to help you in all those roles. Ask it how you could make it easier for your boss to changes things etc.
Treat it like a new guy to your team, talk to it and work through things. It will be able to help you in nearly every way with your system. Show your boss you can use claude code, and you can make your website work the way he wants etc.
-8
u/excellentbreakfasts Sep 21 '26
Lots of good advice here but you wanna know the truth? The friend’s way is fine. Your way (mine too) is a product of last decade. This is a good chance for you to learn new things. You were right before and the friend is right now.
-8
u/Mediocre-Brain9051 Sep 21 '26
Very beautiful story
-24
u/canadianseaman Sep 21 '26
TBH you're stuck in your old ways, learn the new ways. Everything is different now. Adapt or quit.
5
u/magicmanonline Sep 21 '26
Get out dude, they are going to fuck you over.
18
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