099: Technical Debt Isn’t Always A Choice. Or Is It?

Sponsors

• Audible - get a free audiobook from Audible with no strings attached at https://workingcode.dev/audible

This week, we're super excited to be getting the band back together! After several weeks of personal and professional obligations, Adam, Ben, Carol, and Tim are all back at it again. And today, we're talking about Technical debt. When engineers talk about technical debt in public, they often try to use financial metaphors; such as taking out a loan in order to buy a house.

These financial metaphors romanticize the notion of technical debt, elevating it into the realm of calculated decision making. But, if we're being honest without ourselves, is any kind of calculation really taking place? Or, are we just trying to do the best that we can with the knowledge and experience that we have? In other words, isn't most technical debt really just the result of engineers writing janky code at the limit of our capabilities?

Follow the show and be sure to join the discussion on Discord! Our website is workingcode.dev and we're @WorkingCodePod on Twitter and Instagram. New episodes drop weekly on Wednesday.

And, if you're feeling the love, support us on Patreon.

With audio editing and engineering by ZCross Media.

Episode source