There is a lot of truth to what you're saying, but while it sounds great for software that is built for its own sake, it sounds too uncompromising in most business settings. The fact is that most software is built in service to a business and the developer is (quite rightly) judged by the extent to which the software serves the business well, rather than the extent to which the code behind it is "good" or "bad". Ignoring that and attaching your identity to that quality of the code rather than the service to the business is folly. Having said that, it is all a short-term / long-term trade-off; "bad" code can be expedient and beneficial short-term while "good" code is almost always better in the long term. Deciding when to serve short-term and when to serve long-term business goals is the Hard Part, but the answer isn't to stubbornly apply one rule or another.