[shaftway]

Hacking doesn't need to be self-deprecating. I'm proud of some of my work that I consider a hack.

When I worked in finance, I hacked together a bridge between an FIXML order pub/sub service and a proprietary exchange server. Was it my best work? Obviously not. Was it ugly as sin? Hell yes. Did I slap it out in a few weeks? Yup. Did it prop up the business for the 18 months it needed to develop a "real" solution? Yeah.

That ugly hack probably earned the business millions in revenue.

Though I also concur; the term hacker is overused, diluted and twisted in meaning, and I have no interest in bringing it back.