I could be wrong in this belief, but I feel that most tech companies tend to shortlist people that have experience with all kinds of modern flashy technology. As a result, many devs often use heavyweight tools to do simple things (e.g. using Kubernetes, Node.js, and SvelteKit to host a site that could simply be static HTML on a CDN). I know I have fallen into this before so that I can have something to add to my resume.
I wonder how tech would be if most people were hired based on their ability to do as much as they can with as little extra tooling as possible? I'm sure this is the case in lower-level programming jobs where optimization and performance is key, but in higher-level dev, such as web, it seems to be tools on tools on libraries on more libraries just to do a simple task.
Doing things in very simple ways makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside, but always going the simple route in personal projects wouldn't allow me to utilize the latest and greatest and stay ahead of the curve.
I'd love thoughts on this topic to see if I am reading things wrong.
essentially by putting more effort and showing off
well you signal that you put a lot of effort
and people love people who put a lot of effort for them