The messiah complex is rampant with both developers and operations people.
The are addicted to feeling valuable and important.
When they get home from work, they have nothing else to do.
The are addicted to feeling valuable and important.
When they get home from work, they have nothing else to do.
Working out frequently, getting a family, getting a side project off the ramp, and reducing to part-time have all helped me with my addiction to feeling valuable and important when nothing else is gained than becoming known for fixing stuff in weekends free of charge.
I know first hand about the "fixer" mindset that a lot of engineering-minded men have.
Do yourself a favor and fix things mostly for your family/friends, and your company a distant third. Every single person will be better off in this scenario. It's a hard learned sometimes counter-intuitive lesson, but it must be learned.
There are plenty of people like that in a company but they normally don't cluster together, so it feels like "nobody else cares". That's false. At times that's how exactly how products, or even entire companies, are saved. Because a bunch of individuals who think like that get together and work hard to accomplish something.
Whether that effort is recognized or not depends on the company. If it's not then, I agree, it would be irrational to keep pushing. But you can't know until you try.
(Edit: to be clear, I'm not advocating prioritizing work over anything else, that really depends on you, but there's a fine line between "working hard" and being obsessed. The latter will more often than not result in a net negative in most cases. The same level of effort and/or prioritization should be applied to all areas of life)
The correct approach is to be flexible, recognise that your family is worth more than the company, but still give a shit about your work and getting it done.
Had 1-2 childhood events that shaped you, and now you are afraid to do anything except 'be high value'.
I'm aware of it, I'm even aware of philosophies like Absurdism, good luck changing me. Its either in my DNA or faux-PTSD.