Different problem spaces call for different solutions. Many of the problems programmers at medium-large companies face in practise are problems of communication

Different problem spaces call for different solutions. Many of the problems programmers at medium-large companies face in practise are problems of communication, coordination, consistency, and code organisation. So the question to ask is whether your code is having the impact like that which it should. Does this code make you (and/or your employer) enough money? Does it have enough impact on the world, if you are not doing it for money? If so, then you are righteous in this course of action. Otherwise, there may be a risk that you're That Guy who thinks he's all that but isn't and ends up on thedailywtf.com. We really can't tell from here :) Most of the things you complain about are tools for helping a team (or a community) work together. If you do not do that, and instead produce software in isolation, you may in fact have no need for practices like code review. You may also have a reduced need for unit tests. It depends on your product's lifecycle and complexity. Myself, I'm working at a payments service provider moving <BIG> amount of other peoples' money daily. We have unit tests. We have code reviews. We try not to break our stuff. (That said, choice-of-language whining on a project that's not yours is almost always unalterably lame.)