Honestly if you left the tech industry a decade ago and sat out all the “big trends” (blockchain, NFTs, metaverse, AI) you could come back in a few years time and have missed precisely nothing of substance
Here's what I've learned after decades in this industry: really giving a toss about the end product and the people that use it is worth 100x more than being a good technical mind, or having a vast amount of money or market share. Every day extremely wealthy companies drive truckloads of money at supposedly the best programmers in the world and produce absolute garbage more often than not.
@sinbad I care about doing good work, and have told customers so as a freelancer (sometimes in the context of "I will do it right or I will not do it at all"), and that usually results in really strong expressions of appreciation.
In the back of my mind, I cannot help but think "if you are so thankful for me giving a shit, then what the hell has everyone else been shipping for you?"
