[Deltionsjsj]

Im quite active in my work. Taking ownership thinking about how to solve issues, lean and clean, good documentation etc and if I would only do minimum work, I would neither learned that much nor would I have the experience which allows me my carrier I have.

And yes I'm still only working full time but my salary is now nearly half as much as a lot of 'normal' people who did not spend the time like I did.

And I will continue to work like this.

Of course I'm not 100% sure if or how much of my own IQ has a part in this or that it(all of it) is my hobby as well but still.

And if certain things are not valued money wise Ina prev company, I still had enough to show to the new company.

If you like your work and you are good at it, it's more fun, you gain more privilege and when you optimize yourself away you have either tons of R&D time or can take the next challenge.

But your manager will seldom Loos a person like this.

[fbrchps]

For sale of argument, let's say you were paid half what you currently are, same company/manager/etc.; would you still put in as much effort?

One unfortunate reality is that programmers or other programmer-adjacent jobs tend to be paid quite well, and as such the "work equal to pay" mindset is a bit strange compared to normal office jobs. I've personally known someone at my job, which paid me let's say $X, and paid them $⅓X for us both working on the same project. Surprise surprise, that person put in minimum effort necessary to get the job done, and has since left the company for another that is paying them closer to $½X.

[Deltionsjsj]

Yes.

I started with a very low salary and basically climbing the ladder slow and steady.

With my attitude and I do believe I'm climbing that ladder because of it.

You need to be ready when opportunities arrive.