Yep, I agree. In pretty much every organization I've worked in, some engineers are more equal than others. If you're a golden child, you'll have praise heaped

Yep, I agree. In pretty much every organization I've worked in, some engineers are more equal than others. If you're a golden child, you'll have praise heaped upon you for whatever you do. If you're not one of them, you can take charge and go above & beyond if you want... but probably no one will care. So at least for me, I really question the value of doing those things nowadays. I just do my work, try hard to do a good job, help out if I'm asked, and that's that. The worst aspect of this dynamic is when you see one of the "more equal" people doing something that's going to cause pain and trouble down the road, but you know nobody is gonna listen. That's life as an engineer I guess.