Nerd self-imposing non-existent standards on themselves and getting bitter as “slop” succeeds is a pattern I have seen over and over in my almost decade-long tech career Halfway through my career, I realized not “playing the game” literally cost me millions ( zirp/CI investments) I legit thought I just had to do my work and the rest would fall in line I watched “superstars” from FAANG engineers come in, leave a slop mess of infrastructure (pre ai) and move on to the next grift I saw PMs take credit for work that wasn't theirs and get rewarded with 2x salary Self-imposed standards are a form of narcissism that you need to get over if you want to succeed Being willing to be embarrassed temporarily and show humility while playing the game is an art