I work for one reason and one reason alone - to trade 40 hours of labor for money to support my addiction to food and shelter. The company is not going to give me money for “caring about society”. They are going to give me money to meet my quarterly goals to help them meet their profit goals for the company and in a former life , to make them look good for the public market pre-IPO and at another company for an acquisition.

I give a company 40 hours a week and all of my 30 years of industry experience and they give me money (and in a former life RSUs)

TBF those RSUs come in handy on cold winter nights when you need tinder.

Well I was 46 years old and married at the time (still married). It helped when I could tell my wife she could stop working and getting up early and I was working remotely. It made those late nights and early morning much more enjoyable.

“Whoever said money can’t solve your problems Must not have had enough money to solve them”

(Partially joking, I make the same post BigTech as a “staff consultant” as an L5 I did mentor as an intern and when they first came back as an L4. Nothing eye popping. But decent)

Sweet summer child. I was once opinionated and driven as you are now. I remember when I got out of college, I also thought like that of the mediocre clock punchers.

Now at my 45 years, I couldn't care less for whatever grand objective the current company I work for has. I exchange my knowledge and time for hard cash, and let the owners , ceo and whatnot run with their grandiose vision.

I only want to be left alone.

We all get here. It's funny when we turn back.

Funny enough, the more I got into this mindset, I slept better, made more money, and got more autonomy.

Once directors and CxOs know that you are completely aligned with the business goals and ignore everything else that “doesn’t make the beer taste better”, they trust your judgement and basically leave you alone.