In 2014 I worked at a company that switched to Git and then started measuring LoC to assess performance/involvement. Engineers took to committing/removing things like node_modules directories to make the data meaningless.
It still happens, even today, quite a bit.
Spot on. Talented engineers can usually be picky and change job if they don't like the environment, but not everyone has this option. There's plenty of developers who are stuck in shitty companies (lack of skills/experience, or struggle with interviews, or just live in places with limited opportunities). And the longer you stay in a bad place, the harder it gets to escape it. 2 years ago I was the hiring manager for a few open positions and I was honestly shocked by some candidates. So many "senior devs" that despite having 5-10 years in the industry wouldn't have passed the interview even if they applied for a junior role.
It's very easy to have a distorted view of the industry if you are privileged enough to have only worked in great tech companies. I'm guilty of this myself, making friends with other devs in my city was definitely eye-opening for me.
The business I worked at was a typical office, like the one you saw in Office Space. Departments had their own TV screens on the wall that showed performance of individuals in a department; the sales department had a screen that showed who was making the most sales that day.
After we'd pretty much finished working on the web apps that supported these TV screens, the CEO met with me and a colleague to tell us how good a job we did. Then he said:
"You know, you're the only department now that doesn't have a performance monitor. Maybe we out to get one for you. We could base it on lines of code."
My coworker and I were speechless at first, but we started laughing because we thought it was obvious that he was joking.
"What's funny? Why are you laughing?"
We quickly stopped laughing when we simultaneously realized that our boss was not kidding! I said we'd get right on it in the next sprint, and he told us that sounded good and left. I'll never forget that look on my coworker's face.
I agree with you 100%.
Poisoning the well, I like it.
jaw dropped. since then i'm committed to being the biggest office space corporate schmo possible. let me cog it up, keep payin me 6 figs, lettin me work at home full time.