Sometimes outcomes and achievements and work product are useful beyond just... stack ranking yourself against your peers. Seems so odd to me that this is your mentality unless you're earlier in your career.
Fair enough. I've been in software more than I would like to admit. And the more I'm in, the less I care about achievements in a work environment. All I care about is that the company pays me every month, because companies don't care about me (they care about my outome per hour/week/month). So it's essential to rank yourself high against your peers (being ethically and the like, ofc), otherwise you are out in the next layoff. I know not every company is like this, but the vast majority of tech companies are.
Outside of work, yeah, everything is fine and there's nothing but the pure pursue of knowledge and joy.
People would really be better off seeing themselves as mercenaries with health benefits. You are nothing more. You learn, you make friends, but your job is ephemeral. Do it, but don't get attached TO it.
The key there is "vast majority of tech companies". And I agree with you.
I think the next big movement in tech will be ALL companies becoming tech companies. Right now there are hundreds of thousands of "small" companies with big enough budgets to pay for a CTO to modernize their stack and lead them into the 21st century.
The problem is they don't know they have this problem and so they aren't actively hiring for a CTO. You've got to go find them and insert yourself as the solution.
Outside of work, yeah, everything is fine and there's nothing but the pure pursue of knowledge and joy.