Where do you guys get a job without any time constraints? Also were you born with all knowledge? You are saying for example that the booking system you made in 2009, which was the first time you ever "programmed time" is pretty much perfect? (change the example to shaders, or physics, or your first Node back end blah blah). I am calling Bullshit.
I would think the ones who constantly go back and worry about old code are the ones you would accuse of having no time constraints.
The thing is, if you're going back to the first time you've ever "programmed time", then what you're assessing is design, not code, which falls in line with what I said.
Yes, the scale at which you notice problems with older code changes as you gain experience. i.e. you may have it down at a function or class level but then, at a system design level, or perhaps in the way that the code addresses business needs there will likely be improvements that you can see given the benefit of hindsight and experience.
[edited to remove typo]
That's a young mans game, after you've been doing this stuff long enough the things you learn are in terms of systems design, maintenance, etc. I regularly go back to code I wrote 2 and 3 years ago and think to myself "knowing what I know now, that code is mostly alright".
I can't understand how someone can go back and look at some authentication code, for example, and think the way they did it was horrible. Just how many different ways can you write auth code?
It's one thing if you're a young developer, but at some point the improvements to your code are negligible and have nothing to do with the value you bring to a project.