It sounds like you were given opportunities you wouldn't get elsewhere and in exchange you showed them loyalty and didn't leave them in the lurch by giving them

It sounds like you were given opportunities you wouldn't get elsewhere and in exchange you showed them loyalty and didn't leave them in the lurch by giving them 6 months notice. To me that's a great success story for both sides. Do you feel like the advantages given to you weren't worth the 6 months extra you felt like you had to stay? Why? The first company I worked for full time made me the solution architect for a 20 person project even though I only had 2 years of work experience at the time. Successfully completing that project put me an easy 5 years ahead of my peers in terms of career growth and very few of them have caught up in the 10 years since.