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Comment by unicornmama | Hacker News Reader

> I'll echo the last part of that post: Beware of doing good things at work; the reward is rarely compensation and is usually more work for the same pay.

Let’s rephrase this in a less nihilistic way: Understand your organization’s values and culture. And beware of doing good (or bad) things in a way that goes against your organization’s values and culture.

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Speaking as someone who spent over 20 years in the DOD:

There isn't a way to make things better in the DOD that doesn't go against the culture. Period. My literal JOB was to make things better and it was the worst time of my career. That was with Flag Officer backing and independent authority. I got a chest full of shiny candy and a pathological distaste for it all after a few years of that.

Bigger organizations tend to be more pathological; they attract and shelter sociopaths. So try to find a smaller one that is compatible with your values.

Instead of finding a new org I retired and am doing my own thing.

Figuring out what said own thing is is proving a bigger challenge than anticipated, but I'm enjoying it.

How did you go about figuring it out? I’m somewhere on this difficult path and would love to hear a good story. Contact details are in my profile if you’d be willing to share.

I'm about six months into figuring it out and only now getting a feel for who I am without all the pressures of making a living in my chosen career.

I'll drop you a line via your profile contact info and maybe we can have a chat!

The most insane people I've worked with were at small companies (under 100 employees). A lot of bullshit is tolerated from early employees and cofounders. Big company pathology seems much more straightforward. It's not easier to deal with, but it's mostly just a bunch of assholes climbing the corporate ladder and a lot of incompetency.

* To add to this, the crazy people were slowly pushed out after we were acquired by a slightly larger company.

That's not the takeaway at all.

The takeaway is don't be good at things you don't want to be asked to do.

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