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I grew up in Australia but lived in Japan for 10 years. Tall poppy syndrome is what made me feel the cultures truly had something in common.

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Haven't experienced either culture but was more familiar with the Japanese proverb "The nail that stands out gets hammered down."

Edit: Now that I think about it, I did experience the phenomenon at one workplace where my manager literally said that my "performance was making the other devs look bad." I was later placed on probation (for being a bad manager though I signed up as an IC) and I GTFO.

Yes I feel that proverb applies for Australian culture too. It’s all about superiority of the group over the individual and maintaining the silent rule of “this is normal, you’re a freak if you divert from that.”

That sounds like a pretty toxic workplace. Good thing you could escape it.

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