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To be fair, the previous engineers got paid to write the legacy mess and were employed for a long time if there's a lot of it. Where is the incentive to go the

To be fair, the previous engineers got paid to write the legacy mess and were employed for a long time if there's a lot of it. Where is the incentive to go the extra mile here? Do you eventually put up with enough legacy mess, pay your dues, then graduate to the clean and modern code bases? Because I don't see a compelling reason you should accept a job or stay in a code base that's a legacy mess and take on this extra burden.

__MatrixMan__ 2y ago
Would you be willing to put that take on your LinkedIn profile? If not... well that's why.
- hnthrow90348765 2y ago
  Remembering a controversial take over the code produced/improved is evidence to me that the matter is not settled that we should be spending the extra effort to align our practices with the article. The incentives are not there.
  - __MatrixMan__ 2y ago
    Of course it's not settled. It's awful (the code, not the article). It was written at a time when they didn't know better. Now they do, but they need somebody to maintain it anyway. > Do you eventually put up with enough legacy mess, pay your dues, then graduate to the clean and modern code bases? Yeah, that's called retirement. The point of the article isn't that whatever you're conforming to in the legacy codebase is worth preserving. The point is that whatever hell it is, it'll be a worse hell if you make it an inconsistent one.
    - hnthrow90348765 2y ago
      If they want to pay more to maintain legacy messes, then I'm fine with more rules. That shows the business wants it done right. They don't though, so I can't agree with putting in more work for no extra compensation. I know this counter argument sounds crabby, but going along with existing conventions on a legacy code base might be a lot of work for someone who's only familiar with more recent practices. It's not something you can passively do. Plus having to adopt these older patterns won't help your resume, which is an opportunity cost we are absorbing for free (and shouldn't have to)
deleted 2y ago
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LAC-Tech 2y ago
I'm some what in agreement with this. OP sounds like he has legacy codebase stockholm syndrome. Imagine being appointed mayor of a slum and deciding to build more slums because you wanted to fit in.

__MatrixMan__ 2y ago

Would you be willing to put that take on your LinkedIn profile? If not... well that's why.

hnthrow90348765 2y ago
Remembering a controversial take over the code produced/improved is evidence to me that the matter is not settled that we should be spending the extra effort to align our practices with the article. The incentives are not there.
- __MatrixMan__ 2y ago
  Of course it's not settled. It's awful (the code, not the article). It was written at a time when they didn't know better. Now they do, but they need somebody to maintain it anyway. > Do you eventually put up with enough legacy mess, pay your dues, then graduate to the clean and modern code bases? Yeah, that's called retirement. The point of the article isn't that whatever you're conforming to in the legacy codebase is worth preserving. The point is that whatever hell it is, it'll be a worse hell if you make it an inconsistent one.
  - hnthrow90348765 2y ago
    If they want to pay more to maintain legacy messes, then I'm fine with more rules. That shows the business wants it done right. They don't though, so I can't agree with putting in more work for no extra compensation. I know this counter argument sounds crabby, but going along with existing conventions on a legacy code base might be a lot of work for someone who's only familiar with more recent practices. It's not something you can passively do. Plus having to adopt these older patterns won't help your resume, which is an opportunity cost we are absorbing for free (and shouldn't have to)

deleted 2y ago

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LAC-Tech 2y ago

I'm some what in agreement with this. OP sounds like he has legacy codebase stockholm syndrome. Imagine being appointed mayor of a slum and deciding to build more slums because you wanted to fit in.