What hit me about this article is that I employ almost an identical stack and have never really stepped back and taken a look at just how many pieces are required to make a non-trivial web app. When you're working with these tools day-in, day-out, you get almost institutionalized and forget the complexities that you've absorbed over the years.

A side note: it's a testament to the great work the open-source community has put in over the past decade (two decades?) or so that so many pieces can come together and work relatively seamlessly.