When I was starting out my career, my father gave me a piece of advice that has turned out to be incredibly applicable and valuable - "Stay close to the money".

When I was starting out my career, my father gave me a piece of advice that has turned out to be incredibly applicable and valuable - "Stay close to the money". What he meant by that is work in environments where the work you perform is very closely tied to the revenue of the company - or another way of saying it - "Do work that is directly part of the organization's mission". It sounds like you've applied this to your career with good results.