[lazyant]

This is called "politics", which is basically playing the human relationship game (vs technical merit).

Your options are to play it (to varying degrees) or to move to a place where there's less of it. But make no mistake, there's always some of it; the person who talks to a lot of people and make connections and is likeable will have an advantage (maybe rightfully so).

You don't need to be extroverted to play the game, just takes practice like everything else.