It is hard to disagree with most of these (as I have been preaching about many of these for a while), but maybe it’s a bit harsh?

Having maybe 5 more might be a sign of needing at least a little bit self-reflection. And yeah I’d have to admit I would prefer not to work with programmers who tick off a number of these boxes with no intention of improving without good reason…but it’s also important to balance patience for those who aren’t quite at your level on certain programming subtopics - not suggest they should consider that they’re not cut out for their career.

In a perfect world, if every programmer met your standards, that would probably be bliss. In the real world, “bad code” exists at virtually every company, and most of us have written something that they’re not proud of - to say otherwise might be a sign of needing self-reflection.

It sounds like you’ve been burned badly by tech debt, and that you have the answers to prevent it (I’ve been there too).

Writing certain people off as “bad” is sometimes well-deserved if they’re not redeemable, but humility and kindness might be a better approach to lead by example. Nobody wants the “bad” label put upon them, and by doing so, it creates defensiveness and divide, or worse: complacent indifference towards your cause.