To me this sounds just like someone not being a good developer. As a freelance developer myself I know what value I offer my clients. I've seen so much code from others in the last 15 years, that I can tell the results will likeley not be equal. I am proud of my work and I deliver well documented, stable and easily maintainable software. If a bad paid dev can do the same job as you, I doubt your abilities , disciplin and passion