Smart Developers Ship Bad Code Too — Here's Why

📰 Dev.to · Mark

Even experienced developers ship bad code, and it's not due to code quality, but rather other factors

intermediate Published 3 Apr 2026
Action Steps
  1. Recognize that shipping bad code can happen to anyone, regardless of experience
  2. Identify potential reasons for shipping bad code, such as tight deadlines or inadequate testing
  3. Prioritize code review and testing to minimize the likelihood of shipping bad code
  4. Develop a growth mindset to learn from mistakes and improve code quality over time
  5. Implement processes to detect and fix bad code, such as continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines
Who Needs to Know This

Developers, especially senior ones, can benefit from understanding that shipping bad code is not uncommon and can happen due to various reasons, such as time constraints or lack of testing

Key Insight

💡 Shipping bad code is not a reflection of a developer's skill level, but rather a result of various factors that can be addressed through process improvements

Share This
🚨 Even senior devs ship bad code! 🚨 It's not about code quality, but about other factors like time constraints or lack of testing #softwaredevelopment #coding

Full Article

25 years in IT taught me that the gap between junior and senior developers isn't code quality. It's something far more uncomfortable.
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