> JavaScript is still the same, you still can and pollute the global window object, use global variables, etc.
If you are writing in a modern framework, this is now not possible, without really, intentionally, breaking a lot of things to be able to do so.
> It seems these frameworks are mostly about enforcing a code style, best practices when dealing with large teams with very different experience levels.
Its more like finally having a real programming language, but for backwards compatibility, you can still peer under your framework and libraries and see all the nonsense that used to be available.
> Since I work mostly alone and clients don't care what tech stack I choose, I guess I'm in luck.
Most likely if you're a single person working on such projects, you usually won't hit the complexity needed to justify these tools. That said, since most modern work is being done within them, you are also missing out on the ability to leverage those capabilities when needed. But fair enough!
