[eddsh1994]

I think you seriously misunderstand the complexity of something like the 17th largest US bank along with its 8500 employees and global offices vs a code base. And if you're right, maybe they did know about the risk and were actively working on reducing it.

[kelnos]

I agree with you, but probably in the opposite way you mean: I think it should be a lot easier for a CRO candidate to evaluate a bank's balance sheet than it might be for a CTO candidate to evaluate a large, sprawling code base.

Evaluating a balance sheet and identifying risks is one of the primary qualifications of a CRO job, no?

[travisgriggs]

I dunno. Elon seemed to think he had things pretty figured out with Twitter's code base. :)

But seriously, I'm amused by this thread. We always belittle or downplay the complexity of systems we barely understand. Every software engineer ever exposed to any non technical management, product managers, or sales people has experienced this in spades. You go blue in the face with frustration trying to explain why "seemingly simple things" just are not as simple as people want to believe they are.

I've coded in mixed system designs for 30 years now. Experience has enabled me to see patterns I wasn't even aware to look for as a younger me. I see so much more and am available to evaluate so much more than ever before. But the most important thing that that "experience" has taught me is that this accrual of "experience" is not a convergent knowledge position. Sure, I see more than younger me's do, but I've also come to accutely embrace the notion that "the greater my sphere of knowledge, the greater my contact with the unknown." Complex systems like massive sprawling code bases are HARD. And so are highly intertwined economies.