I don't see anything in the parent post that alluded to building things that were unmaintainable and against principles of good engineering. Given the rest of

I don't see anything in the parent post that alluded to building things that were unmaintainable and against principles of good engineering. Given the rest of the tone of the parent post, I believe this sentence was more intended to emphasize that they did not make excuses for themselves - for example, that they did not know language X, or technology Y. Instead, they rolled up their sleeves and dug in, and figured it out, and got it done.