Sometimes at work it just happens you are so under pressure non-stop that any hope for decent practices are out of the window and there is a constant flurry of mounting problems at your doorstep.
Joel On Software has a little test to see just how good your work environment is for good coding. You can see it here. Go ahead work out where your company lies on the scale, 10 or lower are defined as serious problems.
Sometimes these types of problems you can turn around with a bit of hard work. It is not always possible though - but you have to try. Joel also has another article about Getting Things Done When You Are A Grunt. This suggests it is possible to improve standards even if you are not overly experienced or not very high up. You can also view the related discussion here.
It is easy for the process to overtake the coding though - and you must always keep that in check somehow when you open this Pandora's Box - or you can spend your entire time only on that. This isn't good for you and not good for your colleagues. I think if you work at a 0 rated place then it must be simple to get a few points added to the rating.
