[throwaway26960]

I've found that the more time I spend doing low level code at my job, the less work they think I'm doing. The more you email and be at your desk, the harder they think you're working. I've realized that performance is relative rather than absolute, and if you're the only tech guy working in the office, there's no one to compare your performance against.

Just last week, they dumped a huge amount of server work on me. The next day, I told them I was working remotely to get the work done, and they get pissed. They make it seem like I'm taking the day off. Huh?

[mjevans]

That's the double edged sword, and worse still is that they don't realize how much of an art getting old or not inherently compatible things to interact correctly is. Duct tape, shell scripts, and even small programs to reshape data are an art.