HN user
It does depend on the license used. Some licenses ensure that any code changes must be released publicly. This is why Apple has rewritten a number of Apple internals so that they can be used under a bsd license
I've actually used 1==2 and 1==1 to basically comment sections out or create an infinite while loop. Only really useful in C-style languages
Dumb mistakes I've seen include commented out error checking because of a reversed greater than sign and a SQL query that deletes the whole table before rebuilding the entire thing every day
Also worth mentioning. Many schools don't have engineering and some engineering schools don't have comp sci.
For example in chemistry companies will teach new hires the engineering or the science depending on which degree they have.
Comp engineers may have an initial leg up because their field of study is more practical than computer science which is more theoretical.
Don't worry about it. You were hired for a reason and you should have complimentary strengths to the engineers
I would like to point out that often a company has multiple email vendors and may be in the process of migrating. This means that there are multiple systems that need yo be updated. And they may be using multiple email lists internally. Generally the 10 day is really only a few days, but they are giving themselves leeway in case a weekly sync fails
Its very possible that many vcs passed because they know how much trouble music licensing is and how expensive it is. Put it this way, Pandora, even though it is one of the best at monetizing advertising especially affiliate advertising, still hasn't turned a profit.
Now you have to realize that the project they pitched with may have been very shaky or just may have been outside the partners expertise