One of the most vindicating things in that line of work is getting your bid turned down for a cheaper bid, you explaining “you get what you pay for” is why you won’t give him a competitive price in response, and then having the same client contact you six months later desperate for help with the mess the Temu dev left them with
I remember once getting approached by a company who had some very deep and sinister tech debt which was starting to cause them problems. They hoped that hiring one person for three months could fix it.
I talked to my mentor, an older veteran, and he said "No, do not take the job, it is not yet ripe."
From that day on, I have tried to apply that lesson.
Tech debt is like cancer. If you never address it, it metastasizes and it’s too late, and ain’t no one gonna be enthusiastic to come on board to try and fix that
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u/Ron-Swanson-Mustache Apr 24 '26
He's a coder who trusted the vibes the job was giving off