that is true, people have always tried to dismantle my "software knowledge" just because I have maintained big projects. i also got a good(not awesome) SO profi

that is true, people have always tried to dismantle my "software knowledge" just because I have maintained big projects. i also got a good(not awesome) SO profile, with a lot of questions answered, a few very popular ones. I see also how they generally try to also get me a lower salary than them. I think those things in the context of a company works well for them. You generally get a lower salary, rarely recognition you deserve(apart from peers which are very dedicated as well). But the big and great idea of capitalism is that you aren't tied to just a company, you work a few years in one, jump to another because somebody really likes your work and keep going. The dynamics of somebody who is good at something is very different from somebody who is average/mediocre and compensate it with a lot of politics. You just can't beat people on their game if you want to do real work. also I see that in companies people who don't ever contribute to open source and yet think they are great usually side with peers which do the same and try to only do politics in the office, which kind of works. i sincerely believe that inside a company, it is a bit like high school, people form political alliances and that will be how popular and likely to be promoted to senior management, if they do very well on their assignments(which in case, for most of us, is writing good software), they will just get some grade and maybe a tiny upgrade on their salary and that is all. for people who want to write software for a long time, a good idea is to switch jobs often, try to get a tiny pay raise everytime at least and construct a network of peers who respect your work.