Two years in the industry and the author has seen multiple large enterprises "go bankrupt" because of technical debt or bad code choices? Color me skeptical.
It's a hard truth to swallow that in the "real world" (read: any business that's not a software company) we as software developers are simply there to enable people to do their jobs better. Our software doesn't exist as an end in itself. We are purely a means. Bad/inelegant/old software can often accomplish a business's goals. It might not be as efficient or pretty as possible, but remember that your job isn't to make pretty software, it's to make a business successful.
It's a hard truth to swallow that in the "real world" (read: any business that's not a software company) we as software developers are simply there to enable people to do their jobs better. Our software doesn't exist as an end in itself. We are purely a means. Bad/inelegant/old software can often accomplish a business's goals. It might not be as efficient or pretty as possible, but remember that your job isn't to make pretty software, it's to make a business successful.