> You're very focused on the 1% of the kick-ass people Quite frankly, most of the rest don't matter one way or the other. And it's usually more like 10%, not 1

> You're very focused on the 1% of the kick-ass people Quite frankly, most of the rest don't matter one way or the other. And it's usually more like 10%, not 1%. Perhaps your job is so hard because you're expending effort on things that don't matter to your manager's manager (and therefore to your manager as well). There's a second derivative to this. If you want a decent longer term trajectory, make sure to pick the manager who ensures that his/her teams work on things that matter to _his_ manager's manager. You could easily bust your ass for a decade for zero reward if you don't keep this in mind. Or you could go work in a small company where none of this applies at all.