[010101010101]

This makes for a pithy sound bite, but that’s pretty much only possible if you’re independently wealthy to the point of being in the “fuck you money” category of wealth.

There’s no part of expecting people to hand you money that doesn’t obviously lead to your sole purpose being to please those people. Even if you’re a solo contractor you’re going to spend your time pleasing clients - sure, you can shed bad ones more easily than you can a bad manager, but you’re still beholden to someone who controls the purse. If you found a start up you’re pleasing your investors. If you’re a CEO of a large company you’re pleasing your board.

Work is just the act of pleasing other people in specific ways based on your skillset.

[snozolli]

There’s no part of expecting people to hand you money that doesn’t obviously lead to your sole purpose being to please those people.

IMO, the people who need to be pleased are the customers, and, IME, management's expectations very often run contrary to those of the customers.

Turns out that anagement really doesn't like negative feedback from engineers which turns out to be echoed by users. I'd rather see career advice on how to prevent management from tanking the company without causing them to resent the engineer(s).