[ivraatiems]

This is pretty much how I feel most of the time. I think the value of the average good-but-not-great engineer who's just pulling a paycheck is heavily underestimated. We're the ones making the world go round.

You've never heard of the thing I work on, but if enough of us stop working on it lots of things people use and want every day will stop working. That's not a brag, just a reflection of how things are. Not every problem needs a billionaire or a rockstar. Some problems just need a few moderately dedicated, reasonably smart people, and a little time.

[thricegr8]

I agree so very much with not only your framing, but that of the original tweet(s) and the distillation formed by my own experience.

I'm proximate to development (information security/penetration tester). After university, my journey to graduate neophyticism had begun. As such, my exposure to the techniques, tools, and glue that helped build this industry was certainly sitting high up on the shoulders of giants. And I wanted to be up there. I deeply yearned (and if I'm going to be honest with myself as I write this, perhaps a small part of my still does) to be in the same group as these folks. But it just hasn't happened yet, and I still kick ass at what I do. I know how to use the tools, understand them, write miniature bastardized versions of a subset of functions when need be. I know the space, understand it (as much as someone who has ~10 years of experience, so granted a long way to go :)).

I'm just....average. And that's okay.