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> I also don't work in as heavily of regulated domain.

I feel this is the crux of it for the thread. Most places where I've worked have been regulated and this has been interested to read/follow.

This 'fall on the sword' thing is real. The 'engineer on a PIP' thing is too, in a twisted sense. This has multitudes/depth.

Consider business terms/liability. Your certification/ability to do business depends on implementing certain things, sometimes by buying things (ie: RHEL) from those who also carry certifications. The alternative is to do it yourself at great expense.

If 'it' hits the fan, you can [hopefully] point at due diligence. It's not an engineer doing this to cover themselves... but businesses.

I don't know how approachable the distribution providers are as a smaller business. We, at fairly large enterprises, were able to work closely with them to get fixes regularly - but that says very little.

Anyway: I say all this to neither defend or deride the situation. It's sort of like a cartel, insurance, and buying merch for a band on tour, all in one.

I've benefited from this situation but also lost years of my life to it



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