> However, at work you are paid to do a job. In other words, they pay you money to adopt their set of engineering values. It’s hopefully well-understood that however much you might personally care about performance, sometimes you have to write slow code at your job (for instance, to get a project done on time, or to accommodate some awkward requirement). Maintaining a theory of the codebase is the same kind of thing.

Sure, yes, this is basically the difference between a professional and hired goon. And it is true that the majority of software devs operate as hired goons.

For enough money, I will do (almost) anything management tells me to do. Not my circus, not my monkeys.