"After the “Mount Stupid” peak comes the “Valley of Despair.” This is where one goes after realizing ignorance. Accepting this was particularly painful for me,

"After the “Mount Stupid” peak comes the “Valley of Despair.” This is where one goes after realizing ignorance. Accepting this was particularly painful for me, having spent quite a long time thinking I knew a lot. You see, my arrival to the valley was delayed for several years because I kept job-hopping before I could witness the consequences of my decisions." I've seen this many times over the years. It's especially painful when the individual is repeatedly praised for his/her achievements by people which don't have to deal with future consequences either. It's very common with consultants. The more benign cases lead to the "fake best practices expert" while the more pathological cases lead to the "unsuspecting pyromaniac hero firefighter" that achieves results by (unknowingly) scorching the earth it leaves behind.