>and most people you interact with in a startup (like customers) do not care about the code. Exactly. Technical debt is your problem; not the customers. Right

>and most people you interact with in a startup (like customers) do not care about the code. Exactly. Technical debt is your problem; not the customers. Right now, to the average person you're probably a wizard. (And to some of your colleagues if your skills are of sufficient quality.) Nobody questions a wizards magic as long as it works. (Except in the edge case where it is indeed your colleagues observing.) The best magic requires sleight of hand and people skills to perform. EDIT: And since were all listing our ages here, 16.