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I think the biggest factor that might come into play though is that even top developers write bad code sometimes (weird behaviors that they think might work out

I think the biggest factor that might come into play though is that even top developers write bad code sometimes (weird behaviors that they think might work out but prove to be hard to maintain) especially when working on things they've had no experience in the past writing. (The first facebook api was probably not written by somebody who's done a lot of work with APIs). Or some other legacy issues caused the API to be written in non-optimal way.

rozap 14y ago
The whole structure behind a lot of companies that he criticizes is that there's a small team building big stuff. In that environment, developers need to take on multiple roles and work on projects unlike anything they've worked on in the past. So I think you're absolutely correct, the first facebook api was not written by someone who had done a lot of api design. And I'd bet a lot of these other cases are similar. The best devs will still struggle a bit with projects that are unlike anything they've ever done before. I'd also say that having the best technical talent is not a prerequisite for building the coolest or most popular stuff. The author assumes it is, which is a major flaw. There are a ton of other factors that leave you with a successful product. That being said, leaving passwords in plain text is just plain stupid.