Code Graveyards: Welcome, Bad Actors
January 3, 2025
Did you know that the siloes housing nuclear missiles are still run on systems from the 1950s-1960s? These systems use analog computers and code more ancient than some people’s grandparents. The manuals for these codes are outdated and hard to find, except in archives and libraries that haven’t deaccessioned items for decades. There’s actually money to be made in these old systems and the Datosh Blog explains how: “The Hidden Risks of High-Quality Code.”
There are haunted graveyards of code in more than nuclear siloes. They exist in enterprise systems and came into existence in many ways: created by former IT employees, made for a specific project, or out-of-the-box code that no one wants to touch in case it causes system implosion. Bureaucratic layers and indecisive mentalities trap these codebases in limbo and they become the haunted graveyards. Not only are they haunted by ghosts of coding projects past, the graveyards pose existential risks.
The existential risks are magnified when red tape and attitudes prevent companies from progressing. Haunted graveyards are the root causes of technical debt, such as accumulated inefficiencies, expensive rewrites, and prevention from adapting to change.
Tech developers can avoid technical debt by prioritizing simplicity, especially matching a team’s skill level. Being active in knowledge transfer is important, because it means system information is shared between developers beyond basic SOP. Also use self-documenting code, understandable patterns for technology, don’t underestimate the value of team work and feedback. Haunted graveyards can be avoided:
“A haunted graveyard is not always an issue of code quality, but may as well be a mismatch between code complexity and the team’s ability to grapple with it. As a consultant, your goal is to avoid these scenarios by aligning your work with the team’s capabilities, transferring knowledge effectively, and ensuring the team can confidently take ownership of your contributions.”
Haunted graveyards are also huge opportunities for IT code consultants. Anyone with versatile knowledge, the right education/credentials, and chutzpah could establish themselves in this niche field. It’s perfect for a young 20-something with youthful optimism and capital to start a business in consulting for haunted graveyard systems. They will encounter data hoarders, though.
Whitney Grace, January 3, 2024
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