1. Who you know is dominatingly more important than what you know. 2. Similarly, the PERCEPTION of the work you do is far more important than the work you actu

1. Who you know is dominatingly more important than what you know. 2. Similarly, the PERCEPTION of the work you do is far more important than the work you actually do. 3. From #2, trying to force this perception is risky business. It's much much safer to find what the perception of success would be to your leadership, and dovetail with that. 4. Idealism/"doing what's right" is often at odds with career progress. (not to necessarily dissuade someone, but to set expectations for what comes after they make a stand, and prepare "younger me" for the fallout/handling that maturely) I realize this all comes off with a very pessimistic tone, but that's what I'd honestly tell myself. I was far too optimistic, far too convinced of the "it'll be different when you grow up" koolaid I'd been handed at every step from middle-high-college-grad-industry, far to unprepared to just buckle down and ship for the next 20 odd years; regardless of my own feelings of what I'm shipping. I don't mean this in the sense of "do morally reprehensible things", but in the sense of "You will be doing the computing equivalent of digging and refilling potholes for the next decade. Be OK with this. This is life. Find meaning elsewhere." I'd leave this on the positive note that all this negativity WRT work comes with the natural complement, the "mental effort" you WERE spending (you being "younger me") on caring about the day jobbing can now be spent on life outside work. I have one hell of a garden nowadays that makes me way happier than any of my passion projects did when I was 24/7 programming.