I think Instagram shows pretty much the opposite example of the "throw anything at the wall with any techno you want and fix later" mentality that is trendy todays.
They were seasoned enough to choose Python and Postgres, two technologies that are both relatively easy to start with and to scale later.
And, oddly enough, those two technologies are on the "do things right" side, and do not (usually) sacrifice their correctness to some convenience or fashion.
So, sure, one cannot expect to know every corner of the techno one chooses, but still choosing carefully the best options and shielding oneself against current hotness is still not a waste of time or energy.
I can't remember where I read/heard it, but they received advice about what to use, and change to use in order to scale better, and were willing to listen to that advice.
So the lesson is not just be good at what you do, but be willing to listen to other people who knows better than you do.
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I think Instagram shows pretty much the opposite example of the "throw anything at the wall with any techno you want and fix later" mentality that is trendy todays.
They were seasoned enough to choose Python and Postgres, two technologies that are both relatively easy to start with and to scale later.
And, oddly enough, those two technologies are on the "do things right" side, and do not (usually) sacrifice their correctness to some convenience or fashion.
So, sure, one cannot expect to know every corner of the techno one chooses, but still choosing carefully the best options and shielding oneself against current hotness is still not a waste of time or energy.
I can't remember where I read/heard it, but they received advice about what to use, and change to use in order to scale better, and were willing to listen to that advice.
So the lesson is not just be good at what you do, but be willing to listen to other people who knows better than you do.
Sure, they didn't try to do anything too crazy, but on a scale of cobol <=> new hotness, I think django would fall closer to new hotness.
I think django was a good choice; I just don't think you can draw those conclusions from it.