Better with Kent

Kent reacts to Dax's question on X — why no framework dethroned React — and connects it to Jobs Theory, network effects, and why framework choice matters less when agents write the code.

Chapters

  • 00:00 — Why did nobody dethrone React?
  • 00:24 — Dax's question on X
  • 00:49 — React is the last UI library (2020)
  • 02:47 — Functional first, then social and emotional
  • 03:36 — What made React functionally better
  • 06:43 — Network effects and "nobody got fired for choosing React"
  • 07:38 — Why framework choice matters less with agents
  • 09:27 — Jobs Theory: apply this to everything you ship
  • 11:14 — Wrap-up

Better with Kent — durable skills for people who ship software.

Every few years the internet declares the framework wars over — usually with React as the loser. Svelte was going to win. Then Solid. Vue had its moment. Angular never left. And somehow, after a decade of "React is dead" takes, React is still the default for an absurd amount of real product work.

Kent's take: React won functionally first (state sync, composition, drop-in UI focus), then socially and emotionally once it hit critical mass. Challengers can still be "better" on paper — but once agents can use any capable stack, the throne fight stops mattering the way it used to.

Links

What is Better with Kent?

Solo episodes from Kent C. Dodds on durable skills for people who ship software: judgment, accountability, problem clarity, and what stays valuable as AI takes on more implementation. Kent teaches directly on camera — no guest, one idea at a time. Complements guest interviews on Become a Product Engineer (Chats with Kent). Episode 1 adapts The Last Software Engineer; later episodes cover traps like building the wrong thing faster and skills like making user pain visible. Subscribe for evergreen episodes as the series grows.