Not sure about the maximum complexity point. I like to think i'm thinking about things with very crisp abstractions, so i avoid some pointless complexity i used to deal with.
Processing complex models though? No. Now i actually process them. I know the 50 things that could be horrible when facing a new environment, and i go look for them. My old strategy was to hope i'd be smart enough to deal with whatever i ran into. This is still the case, but i figure it out now, rather than 2 weeks or months down the road.
I don't meet a lot of old arrogant programmers, the kind with false bravado. It's not bragging if you can do it. I think that's a losing strategy. I try to be humble, and save the bravado for just after shipping. And do that in a very inclusive way. We did it, not I did it.
Condescension is another one i struggled with a bit. That's a long term losing strategy imho. Much better to ask gentle questions about, what happens when the network is unavailable, or what if thread A has the lock when thread B comes rolling in?
I guess, as a younger programmer, i had quite a few ugly personality traits because i was young and dumb. Those are tolerable when you're cheap. Those are tolerable when you're junior.
One other key, i think, is not presenting things like look at what I did, or look at what I'm going to do. Rather, share the magic. We (our organization) got to build this super neat thing that i'm exited about, and you should share in the excitement because it's super cool. Bring people along for the ride, let them share in the joy we all experience building cool stuff. It's easy to slip, and think I did the whole thing single handedly - bosses make time for me to work on something to the exclusion of everything else, my peers cover bugs and other projects so i can do my stuff. Everyone helped create an environment for me, so i could build cool stuff.
My peers likely don't care much at all, but enthusiasm is infectious. They're often happy for me, and inadvertently happy in general because they see progress.
A lot of people fall into the trap of, this place would fall apart without me and i should be worshiped. No. It's really unlikely the place will fall apart. It might suck for a few weeks or months, but ultimately they'll figure out your stuff or replace it, and you'll be forgotten.