For any young programmers: live within your means, invest the difference, become independent, and work on what you enjoy. It’s the best (work related) gift you can give yourself. Skip the self promotion politics unless you enjoy it.
I don’t hate work. But at the end of the day, it’s a means to exchange labor for money.
Out of the million of things I enjoy, helping the bottom line of a for profit company isn’t one of them. It’s a necessity.
And I actually like the company I work for. It’s one of the best companies I’ve ever worked for (10 in almost 30 years).
The self promotion politics is the only way you get ahead in large companies with a structured promotion process where you have to show “scope” and “impact”.
It's not about self promotion, but building with a clear goal set fir me I have found to be much more rewarding than when I have to think of my own goal. The worst is when a fake goal is set, it's the thing about university I liked the least. If I can't interrogate or question the 'why' for the goal, because it is just 'to test me' then it isn't a real goal, just an artificial constraint.