this paragraph smacks of "I do it right, everyone else does it wrong." my point was that the "right" way, as learned "in theory", is not necessarily so in practice (and in fact, often isn't when the theoretical right way involves spending client money that will add no value that is immediately noticeable to the client). i wasn't dismissing theory as useless--if you read my comment as tilting to that extreme, i probably wasn't clear enough. theory has its place, but if a dev goes through her career expecting her clients/bosses to agree that spending time refactoring so-so code (that works!) is worth $XXX/hr, it's no surprise she's getting frustrated. in my mind, her role as a developer is to apply sound theory as much as possible within the constraints of her job. when other people are signing her paycheck, she either does it their way or finds a new job (or applies to YC)--but complaining about it won't help her situation.