Same thing with my tools. Atom was dropped in favor of VSC and Zed, despite having millions of users. Again, it seems something like Vim or Emacs would be the most future-proof alternative. Sure, VSCode is supposedly open-source, but I don't think people will fork and maintain it if MS suddenly stops support. I fear that any sophisticated and complex project, even if it's open-source, will not be properly supported outside of its core team, especially if there are competitive alternatives.
TLDR— How do you go about making yourself future-proof? In the sense that you won't have to re-learn new tools every few years and instead focus on getting the job done.
I’ve worked in the software business for 40 years and I’m happy I’m not stuck with what I learned decades ago.
The main thing I think about for future proofing isn't related to skills, but rather data. What file formats should I use to ensure I can still get access to me data a couple decades from now. When I was young my dad told me to use rtf for the papers I wrote, so I could open them anywhere, but I can't open those anymore on modern systems (or the files or corrupt). My thought is to use text files or markdown wherever and whenever possible, but then there is a question of ease of use. How much time will I spend trying to maintain a text based system vs just having to spend a few hours migrating every 5-10 years if there is a big shift in where/how I'm looking to store my data.
Still, it may be moot for most of those tools evolve sufficiently during their lifetime that one can wonder if they remain the same. Is Emacs with modes such as org or magit really the same emacs that was used in the '90s? Would a Linux sysadmin from 2000 really feel at home with a 2022 Linux and systemd, containers and ...
If the capability and stability of your development workstation and tools are important to you, there is no better option than a platform controlled and continuously innovated by the community itself.
You future proof by continually learning, and by learning things that don't age as much. Your knowledge of VSC might not matter in twenty years, but your knowledge of social skills won't.
Even programming language take only weeks to do useful work in, if you know any similar language.
If VSCode vanishes there will be some other similar open source tool, that will probably be better somehow. And I'll probably be up and running fast because everything will be labeled with tooltips.
I don't have any custom scripts and modifications, so it's not like I'll be losing a lot.
GUI tools are interactive and largely guide the user, so there can be close to zero learning time for the better ones, on simple tasks. There's some learning to be maximally effective, but... everyone else will have that same time too, it's not like you'll be fired or the world ends if you're a little slower for a bit with a new tool.
Then again, I don't have any strong muscle memory or spatial thinking ability, so I don't get as attached to details of tools anyway.
I just try to make sure everything uses common standard formats like Markdown, and avoid things that are based on customization.
Otherwise, it’s a similar problem to being on eg the cutting edge of music. You either consume everything you can until you can make judgements on what will stick or not, or you create things yourself and try your hardest to make them the next thing.
Luckily, in our industry, you can also:
- know the fundamentals of math/science/technology: there is never truly anything new, there are always rehashes of something else
- be smart enough to absorb radical new theories: self explanatory, better learners can get a grasp of the content more effectively
- socially positioned enough to delegate what you don’t understand: if formally verified quantum blockchain on tensor cores (or whatever) doesn’t resonate with you, but you think it could be useful later, get a younger/brighter person to do what you won’t or can’t. You might reap major rewards from having a protege in the space, and if you don’t, then you helped the next gen learn something new, so feel good about that.
The BSDs also seem quite staid - I'll probably be moving any firewalls I can to PFSense where possible after dealing with the lifecycle hassles that Cisco and Sonicwall have put me through now.
But I think the most important thing is to use open formats to store your data; you don't really own it if it's closed.
I’d argue that rather than resisting change you should embrace it - future-proofing oneself means adopting new technologies proactively and staying ahead of the curve to avoid being left behind, not finding the magical set of tools than won’t ever become obsolete.
Have a look at even the "simple" things like PHP: When I was learning it in version 2.x it was a straight forward but cubbled mess. Now, with PHP8 its anything like that and it became a "modern programming language".
Change is the only guaranteed constant.
Cordova and Parse (now Parse Server) suddenly lost a lot of support when dropped by a big name.
It seems that most people pick technology not by how good it is, but whether big names support it. And this ends up a self-fulfilling prophecy.
If you ever find yourself somehow completely outside of what you need for core competencies, then step away from work and grind like crazy to get caught up.