It's surprisingly easy for this to happen even with competent people in charge. Again, fixing it is the job and why you're paid well.
This is something I've realized more and more as I've grown older. In my opinion, this stuff to 'clean up' it just more opportunities for someone like me.
Engineering excellence doesn't happen by accident, and for anyone that works in any kind of technical field I'd expect a higher level of interest and/or pride than this kind of luke-warm "oh well, what did you expect". That attitude isn't a neutral stance, it's part of the problem.
> It's surprisingly easy for this to happen even with competent people in charge.
Exactly what management at Boeing is saying to regulators and the public while they cut corners on engineering, wreck a company that was around before they were alive, and fail-upwards with golden parachutes.
I'm not suggesting you need to lose sleep over every decline in quality everywhere, but your casual stance that cleaning up other people's messes is your whole job description is very likely a self-fulfilling prophecy. And if you're normalizing this then people that do like quality have to fight that much harder for it.
Or you can just be the guy that yells that everyone else is doing it wrong and then wonder why you don't get hired
This is my last reply. You have a good day.