As an engineer, when I have to work with legacy code, it's easy to criticize the code and wonder how the previous author(s) could have crafted such a terrible product. I try to remind myself regularly of my own shortcomings and the flawed codebases that I've contributed to over the years. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, not assuming poor intentions or laziness, and instead understanding that everyone is in a different place in their path to becoming a better engineer.
The poem excerpt linked above reflects this feeling more eloquently than I can.
I ❤️ this picture because it basically sums up my experience as a software engineer. Design decisions, communication, and planning are often much harder and time consuming than the technical aspect of building software. I think the industry has come a long way towards addressing these issues, and I look forward to continuing to improve my ability to solve problems successfully for the clients I work for.
