Today I realized that caring about product quality only made me a dislikable chump.

Dev at software company for 3 years, in industry for 8.

When I started on this team (a year ago), I came in punching, doing TONS of work, suggesting areas for improvement, etc. I was full of ideas, really wanted the product to be quality, hoped to cut down on tech debt, and cared about the UX/UI.

Over the following 12 months, all of my energy slowly burned away as I realized that I was being an overachieving chump and no one else really gives a fuck. It took literally a year of me losing sleep, wondering what was wrong with me, etc., to finally wake up to the fact that everyone else is only here for a paycheck, and then they go home. The quality of the product does. not. matter. as long as the team is getting paid.

Now that I've learned that giving a shit only made me a stressed out weirdo, I can finally relax, because I, too, no longer give a shit.

I no longer kick total ass at work.

I no longer suggest improvements because I know they will be either ignored or shot down.

I keep my ideas to myself.

When I see bugs, I no longer report them because now I realize it was only making me look like the bad guy.

I no longer clean up other peoples' messes or blatant Kindergarten-level spelling errors in production code.

Now that I have achieved enlightenment, I put in the minimum effort required and move issues from TODO to IN PROGRESS to DONE. I get paid. And I go home.

can anyone else relate?