[Aeolun]

You can only have that shot down so many times before you give up.

[Dextro]

Very much this. And when people give up it can take one of two forms:

Either the person quits.

Or the person resigns to giving mediocre output and coasts.

Neither is good for the business and yet people keep pushing workers (not even just in tech) into that position to the point it's now a cliché.