I wonder how much of this is momentum.

At the moment, we understand the basic tech, could reasonably DIY, but choose not to knowing full well there's a mess of understandable code somewhere we could go clean up but dont want to. We accept fast iterations because we know roughly the shape of how it "should be" and can guide an automated framework towards that. This is especially true on our own projects or something we built originally! Stark/Iron man knew/moved, the suit assisted by adding momentum.

We're riding our "knowledge momentum".

If companies can hold out long enough, that knowledge completely fades, and the tool is all you have. At that point, they are locked in. Then it's not Iron man, it's an Iron lung (couldn't resist!)

Yeah that’s my main concern. It feels so so easy to be lazy and do a bad job now. And then my skills weaken and what makes me valuable fades.

I love the Iron lung reference. Perfect.