For sure. I used to be a real tech snob. And I still like experimenting. But I've had to admit that the particular technology used just doesn't make the difference I would like it to. E.g., PHP is a "fractal of bad design" [1], but Facebook seems to be an ok business. Or Javascript was clearly a frightful hack job to start, barely adequate for mouse rollovers and a little form validation, but now you see plenty of companies doing fine using it front end and back. These days I would much rather have a good team and a good culture than my favorite technology.

[1] https://eev.ee/blog/2012/04/09/php-a-fractal-of-bad-design/

Sounds more like it was about consistency rather than about boring vs. exciting technology.

Because 1.) Angular was still "the hot shit" at the time, 2.) React was already there, so you could have chosen that as well and it is still here.

Agree completely. I prefer react over angular, but when you have everyone working with the same tech stack, and all of your apps look the same, it's very easy to always be productive. How does service x work? Oh, just like the last 3 I worked on. Context switching isn't just expensive in the short term, it's expensive over weeks and months for these kinds of decisions.