Always look after number 1
I want to tell you a story, not the polished kind you hear on YouTube or from influencers who haven’t worked a real engineering job in years, but the version that actually happens behind the scenes. When I first started in tech, I genuinely believed that if I worked hard enough, stayed late enough, solved enough problems, and proved myself enough, the company would take care of me. I thought the late nights meant something. I thought the extra effort would be remembered. I thought loyalty still meant what it used to. Turns out, it didn’t. I watched brilliant developers people who built systems everyone depended on get laid off because a new VP wanted to “tighten budgets.” I watched companies replace entire teams based on a spreadsheet projection. And I learned something harsh but true: You can be incredible at your job and still be disposable to the wrong place. This wasn’t a tragic moment… it was a wake up call and I want you, especially if you’re early in your journey, to wake up much sooner than I did. Because here’s the part nobody warns you about: Tech attracts passionate people, people who will stay up until 2am chasing a bug because they can’t let it go. People who feel guilty clocking off “on time.” People who tie their sense of worth to solving problems quickly. People who desperately want to belong. But passion without boundaries becomes exploitation. I burned myself out doing work that I thought mattered deeply and it did, just not to the people I was doing it for. And I’ve seen juniors do the same: crushing themselves trying to “prove they deserve to be here,” without realizing that healthy developers don’t prove themselves by suffering. So here’s the truth: Clock off on time. Go home. Close the laptop. Your life matters more than your output. And if you still have that itch, that desire to build, to grow, to push yourself, don’t waste it on a sprint ticket you aren’t paid extra to complete. Put that energy into something that belongs to YOU. A tiny side project.