via @Joanwestenberg
"But maintainers of legacy systems are treated as janitors rather than guardians.
We act as if working on old code is a punishment, a career dead-end, when in fact it may be the most consequential work in the entire organization. When the flashy new system fails, everyone notices. When the old system keeps running, nobody does. Invisibility is the maintainer's reward for competence."
https://www.joanwestenberg.com/the-rime-of-the-ancient-maintainer/
"We celebrate the startup founder grinding hundred-hour weeks, the hustler who sacrifices everything for the mission, the "winner" who achieves escape velocity from ordinary human limitations. We don't run magazine profiles on the person who exercises consistently, maintains their friendships, sleeps eight hours, and builds nothing more remarkable than a sustainable existence"
"The senior engineer debugging a ten-year-old system at 3 AM isn't a failure who couldn't get a job at a cooler company. They're the reason the sexier company's payment processing actually works. The friend who remembers to check in during hard times isn't less interesting than the friend who makes a party a party. They're the reason there's anyone left to celebrate with"
