👉 Tired engineering refers to the phenomenon where software or systems become increasingly complex and difficult to maintain, update, and scale over time due to repeated modifications, technical debt, and a lack of structured processes. This often results in a "spaghetti code" situation, where the codebase is convoluted and hard to navigate, leading to inefficiencies, bugs, and higher maintenance costs. As engineers work on fixing issues in an ad-hoc manner, the codebase accumulates more complexity, making it harder to understand and modify. This cycle of constant tweaking and adding new features without a clear architectural plan ultimately leads to a state where the system is brittle, slow to evolve, and prone to failure, which is why it's called "tired."
