The first part of your post sounds like a success story to me. You got many years of use out of that server. 5 figures is cheap comparing to the cost (including the collateral damage cost) of a hotshot SWE or devops guy who insists on using the most resume-worthy, most bleeding-edge technology available.
I wish I could upvote you twice - I just finished a multi-week effort to unwind (defuse?) some of the resume-driven architectures that were left behind when resume-driven development was successful.
