The year 2024 has sparked extensive discussions about the future of software engineering research, particularly for library dependencies and the software ecosystems they create. In this talk, I will take you on an experiential journey spanning the last decade, beginning in 2013 when I first embarked on my journey, and finally landing in the era of generative AI and augmented reality. We will explore how the landscape of collecting datasets through mining, user studies, and expanding from 3 systems to 3 million systems has evolved, examine what elements have remained constant, and discuss how we can advance with software ecosystems research in the face of these innovations.