5/ But a more important lesson - the best employees who were happy to teach also tended to be the best developers/coworkers.

Those gatekeeping coworkers and managers who wouldn't give me a chance ultimately hurt their groups on a larger scale than just me. And I had the knowledge sharing coworkers who lifted their company up in ways that wouldn't show up on a spreadsheet at end of year.

OK let's table that for a sec too. I got myself out of a small town, paid rent, saved up, and survived acquisitions only to watch companies I worked for turn into death march hellscapes. The last one that happened to, I noped out and started drawing full time. Two years ago