SEO hacks VS High Quality Content?

There's a lot of talk about SEO hacks. Waiting for 3 to 6 months for a proper content to start working is too long, or is it really?

What's the point of putting in the work when it can all go down the drain with a single Google Algorithm Update. Google will always do it's best to penalize SEO hackers and reward high quality content, so why go against the machine?

We've had quite of the success with our content marketing without any SEO hacks and even backlinks. So I'm assured that's the way to go.

What are your thoughts? Are there any SEO hacks you use that are not prone to Google Algorithm Update?