[nuancebydefault]

Exactly! As a maintenance dev, you tend not to get much praise, you need to continuously explain why things take so long. I'm currently adapting some code that is, in the eyes of management, adding an extra little wire, which should not be more than a day of work. In effect it will be more than 4 days plus some overtime...

[JohnBooty]

Yeah. I've been in the industry for 20+ years and I have not figured out a way to "shine" when tasked with maintenance work, other than finding ways to avoid such roles entirely.

The root issue is that management never seems to be able to grasp things on a technical level. I've tried to communicate this over the years, and have been praised for my communication skills in general, but I've never managed to bridge this particular gap.