Disclaimer: this won’t have concrete actions to take. Lots of good ideas elsewhere. > I don't think I'm the smartest guy in the room, but I have a lot of expe

Disclaimer: this won’t have concrete actions to take. Lots of good ideas elsewhere. > I don't think I'm the smartest guy in the room, but I have a lot of experience, and am a dedicated and driven engineer. Experience and hunger are more valuable than raw intellect. (An unmotivated, inexperienced super genius honestly sounds like an exhausting employee.) Additionally, the person claiming to be the smartest in the room usually is not. > made far fewer mistakes than I did Mistakes are opportunities to learn, so if you made more mistakes, you had more opportunities to learn. Focus less on what you perceive as shortcomings when compared to others and focus more on your strengths. I guarantee you bring value to the company that the 30-something principal engineer does not, and it isn’t a matter of cost. 40 is 39 + 1. Don’t let it be more than that.