Job security through obscurity
Ever had to work on a project that lacks documentation for the decisions hind an important logic path? Or maybe code that had cryptic variable names like a and b? Bytes aren’t cheap, you know.
In security there is a term “security through obscurity” — an approach when in reality the thing is not secured. For example some admin path like /admin.php is accessible to anyone, but instead of having such obvious path it is instead located somewhere like /chdjdjf/jfksjs/vxz.php?k=2746227. Hard to guess, but the important thing is that it is still open.
The worst thing about security through obscurity is that you can confuse yourself and make yourself believe that you are secure. However if you do it deliberately you can still turn away more than half of the attacks.
With the jobs it’s a bit different. Over there obscurity is usually constructed deliberately in order to make yourself irreplaceable. It’s much easier to pay someone who already knows all of the intricacies of the system, rather than hiring a new person and spending time and money for them to research the issue.
And though, job security is achieved. Doing nonsensical things for nonsensical reasons, because it is easier this way.