Nah. As a nice B laner over my career I've seen plenty of A lane jerks. Oftentimes the people in the A lane are driven by... something that forever goes unful

Nah. As a nice B laner over my career I've seen plenty of A lane jerks. Oftentimes the people in the A lane are driven by... something that forever goes unfulfilled. I've seen a few engineering departments that are built around these types. Unhappy, but intensely dedicated to the technical details of the job and they become a keystone of the team, doing some of the most difficult architectural work because they're the only ones who dedicate the mental space to know it all. I'd say one of my strong points is being someone who can interface with these A lane types without taking it too personally. That's not to say only jerks become A lane people, just that the jerks are definitely not mostly in the B lane in my 26 years of experience.