Comment by InexSquirrel

I was thinking about this too, and I think there are two different views you can take.

1. Do you want to work IN the games industry? 2. Do you want to make and ship your own games?

I think the overall internal engineering standard for #1 is higher, because you're ultimately assessed against that standard by others.

For #2 _as long as it works_, you can get away with some under the hood crap, but you're the one that suffers for it (and hopefully not your players). I think I'd be wary (as I'm wary of this for myself), that aiming for #2 gives you an easy out to produce crap, as no one is holding you to standard other than yourself. Doesn't mean you shouldn't do it obviously, but it's a risk.