«I think a functional codebase could be successful if architected intelligently and thoroughly beforehand» You have waaaay too much faith in humanity.

You write some prototype code, it works 80% of time, it goes into production right away (because PM didn’t plan time/resources for any tests).

Now when you code works in production, 80% of your time is spent fixing bugs “as fast as possible” and “by any means necessary”.

That goes for some time (years in most cases) until you are getting new CTO (or manager high enough in food chain), who proposes “reorganization”, in other words someone (not you, because you left this company some time ago) has to make a new, “better” system instead of old one.

No one working in the company has the slightest idea about how this software works, so manager hires a subcontractor (some Indian or Philippine guys with accent so thick you don’t understand the word).

After some time (and money) spent, your “new” software works 50% of time, has 50% of old’s functionality, and needs to be translated into proper English.

At this point managers either:

1. go with “new” system regardless of enduser complains.
2. if backslash is big enough, they hire proper consultants who costs rocket science amount of money, and they make it work somehow.

Edit: I didn’t called out developers from Asia based on their race or something. Its just IT managers are going for the “cheapest option in the World” when they look for contractors, and (imo) some Asian bodyshops made up out of students are the cheapest. You get what you paid for…