Agreed. Even if by some miracle you do deliver, and are considered a superstar, then what? What do superstars get? Probably just even more crunch work, since you've proven you're willing to do it.
This reminds me of the scene in Schindler's List where the SS officer asks the enslaved factory worker to show him how fast he can assemble a particular component. The terrified worker races to assemble it in record time, anxious to please and impress the nazi -- who responds to the effect of: "if you can make them that fast, why is your daily quota so low?"
This was also a standard technique on American plantations, then adapted to the industrial economy in the form of Taylorist time-and-motion studies. If you trace modern management practice, it is basically a straight line back to chattel slavery.
The plantation thing was so horrible. They would track your personal best output, and every day you didn’t beat it you would get whipped based on how much you fell short. Of course this made you work faster, but it was like a game of 21 because you knew if you went over you would now have a higher quota to meet from then on.
You imagine that it will catapult you ahead in your career, your income will skyrocket, you will be respected and loved by your company and peers
But in reality no one really cares much, you'll get the same raise everyone else gets, your bonus is still gonna be capped by your contract, and you will be better off finding a new job if you want more money
Man sometimes I want out of tech so badly it hurts but I don't generally think it's better anywhere else