Where I work we haven’t really shut down any projects in the last six years.

We’ve had some smaller projects which got parked due to shifting priorities, but other than that we’ve shipped everything else.

But inevitably, over a career in software there will be projects that don’t make it to production for one reason or another.

Personally I’m very pragmatic about it, but I know people who get very attached to the code they write.

I’m the kind of guy that is passionate about what I’m doing when I’m doing it, not necessarily for all eternity. I’ve written stuff that I’d be more than happy for someone to come and replace, but the thing about revenue generating systems (most people say “legacy”, but I prefer this term) is that they aren’t always easy to replace.

I know we’re not all wired that way, and some people find it harder to see an older system get retired. A consultant I use is more attached to my code than I am, for instance.