I would say it's not as clear cut at that. I started out at one of the big old dinosaurs and found myself with a good amount of free time (even being on site).

I would say it's not as clear cut at that. I started out at one of the big old dinosaurs and found myself with a good amount of free time (even being on site). This meant I had a stable income and lots of time to really learn new technologies from various courses / YT content and hacking away on personal projects (while being payed on the job). I was still performing well for my main role in comparison to others at the company who you had to wonder 'what does this person even do'.