Neither, but I'm yet to work at a company that both had code and had zero tech debt. I think there's something about capitalism that makes people want to deliver value as soon as possible, and value isn't necessarily dependent on good tests, particularly at the start of a project.
You will always have tech debt, it's a matter of degree. Of course, you have to feel what the best ratio is for your project, which is highly dependent on circumstances, but you definitely want as little tech debt as possible.
But what does capitalism have to do with anything?
There's many ongoing projects to make whisky faster using ultrasonic agitation! Why? Because if the same value can be delivered faster, people try to. The same is true of software, and testing gets pruned.
Neither, but I'm yet to work at a company that both had code and had zero tech debt. I think there's something about capitalism that makes people want to deliver value as soon as possible, and value isn't necessarily dependent on good tests, particularly at the start of a project.