> If the salary for each person was X, I asked for a salary bump of 3X [and they didn't]. ... And from that point on, I stopped treating my job as an extension of my identity or fulfillment of purpose.

Indeed, the best work is done when you do it for yourself. People basically sign their brains away when they go to work for Facebook and Google. Those companies will be likely to get B players no matter how many seemingly great people they hire. The 4.0 MIT grad who can recite chapters from his CS401 class isn't necessarily an A player. Most of the A players I know are either ex-Facebook/ex-Google or turned down working at those places because they have more important things to do with their time.

The real A players are much harder to find and are much harder to value. Without ownership in what you do, there is a high probability that you will not be at your best. If you need to be paid to do something, it is unlikely to be what fulfills you.