Consider programmers that you respect; why do you respect them? The expertise and dedication that I consider respect-worthy have not been deemed so by others.

Consider programmers that you respect; why do you respect them? The expertise and dedication that I consider respect-worthy have not been deemed so by others. most people don't just set out to be a respectable person in the abstract; they work to excel at particular things in their life. Again, you assume a meritocracy in which those who excel are appropriately rewarded. In my experience of the corporate world the rewards are distributed according to a different set of rules and I would like to understand them so as to be better served by them. Your assumption here is that I did nothing to deserve respect but expect it to be delivered free of charge. This is untrue and an ungenerous reading of my statement. I worked my ass off in that job for many years, betting that it would pay off eventually. I lost that bet. Next time I would like to fare better - your suggested approach did not work for me.