Been around long enough to know that the "best" code is what your superiors expect you to produce at that particular moment. It may need to be one or more of the following: {fast (in running speed), quick to produce, high quality in terms of having few bugs, easy to understand, easy to extend, compliant with a particular standard or standards (coding, security, etc.)}, and probably a dozen more such factors. You cannot optimize very many of these at the same time.
What really stinks is that if your boss or co-workers are out to get you, software is so subjective that they can always fault you for one of the above factors that you didn't optimize for.
Oh, and you'll never get people to understand the above, to be able to use it in your own defense...