My LinkedIn title has been “Tech Debt Loan Shark” for years and it has garnered some of the funniest cold opens from recruiters over the years. I don’t think there’s a real problem with admitting technical debt at healthy engineering orgs.

I call myself a “Loan Shark” because if you aren’t given an option by leadership to take the time to do something right, “admitting” technical debt is less about “taking blame” than it is about covering your ass. When that debt comes to bite the company later, bring your receipts and use them as leverage to do some proper technical investment driven by the engineers on the ground floor.