> Yeah the financial value of a codebase is in successfully solving a problem

It doesn't even need do it successfully, plenty of slow buggy codebases that are raking in huge amounts of money every day.

I knew it was bad when I started getting tickets to "improve the skeleton loader" because its displayed for so long the project owner had time to contemplate changes to it.

The success or value of a solution isn't measured by its quality, but by its utility to the customer. It's a harsh lesson for anyone who wants to build quality.