alt Hacker News> I've also been in situations where the person claiming it simply refused to become competent in the language, framework, or persistence technology that the system was built on.
To all managers out there, this is a strong negative signal in the employees mindset, and a strong positive signal that there was a mistake in hiring. Eliminate this type of behavior immediately and if the person wont change then fire them (inability to change is also another red flag).
There is a small chance that there's strong logical reasons for a desire to fundamentally change an underlying technology, but the comment above says they "simply refused to become competent in ....... that the system is built on" and as a ex-google senior engineer of 20 years, I can 100% confidently say that the first step to large scale refactor is to understand and be competent in the existing system!
> this is a strong negative signal in the employees mindset, and a strong positive signal that there was a mistake in hiring
Agree that it's almost certainly a mistake in hiring but strongly disagree that it's a negative signal in the employees mindset
Being specialized in one area is actually a good thing for many people and many roles. It's actually kind of bullshit that software companies expect everyone to be a generalist nowadays
Having strong preferences about the tech you like to use and the way you like to build is fine. Find the employers with projects and teams that match your preferences rather than trying to crowbar yourself into everyone else's preferences