Maybe there were time constraints. Maybe the coder explained that this code was dangerous to his boss but was not grantee the time to fix it.

I think we agree that said code should never have been written, but there are any number of circumstances that place the blame squarely on management. If he explained the dangers of doing it that way but wasn't granted time to fix it (or no manifest was kept), theres little that johnny coder can do outside of their own time.

None of us write perfect code the first time, and we all had to start somewhere. What's important is how far youve come and what you've learned. I think.