I take responsibility for my own code.

Code that belongs to the company is ultimately the responsibility of the stockholders and their board. As an at will employee with no equity, I will give them exactly what they ask for in their code.

At each job, I will go above and beyond the call of duty once, to gauge the reaction. At some jobs, I get a cash bonus. At others, I just get a pat on the back. The last two jobs in a row, I was told to not do that again. So I didn't.

Don't be an apologist for bad management. I'm not going to do the right thing if I could get fired for it.