[ThePadawan]

Well, funny thing is, that developer was also the operator.

Because if he's the only one that understands the error message, he's the only one that can fix the problem.

That's how you get credit with the suits if something breaks.

No one ever notices a stable application. A programmer fixing a problem that no one understands? That must be a very smart person indeed.

I'm being needlessly cynical at this point. This was just one person at one company. Overall, I do think that given the right incentives, what you describe can happen. But it does not someone in leadership to care. And that's a hard sell to me.

[galdosdi]

Sigh, this is cynical but I've seen that sort of thing too and it really bums you out. When you're in an environment where this kinda crap isn't well understood it becomes frustrating, you end up feeling like you're rewarded for mediocre software engineering and punished for thinking ahead.