On a previous job, two people and I (all subcontracted) raised up the IT support department of a company from what was barebones. AD, Azure, Intune, package deployment, ticketing and inventorying software, automations and more. We made a great team.

After a year and a half we realized they wanted to implement and external L1 support team that is still to this day a bunch of incompetent idiots. On top of that, the company merged with them part of another company, including IT personnel that automatically became staff members without any effort or merits, while we remained subcontracted.

From the tree people team, the coordinator and I left, while the remaining person is still stuck there, because she’s on her 50’s and it’s more complicated for her to find another job, but she’s a person who strives and knows her shit around.

TL;DR: I’m not even talking about going the extra mile or working for free, I’m talking about putting effort on the job you’re paid to do just to be spit in the face in exchange. I’ve reached a new point where IDGAF if I’m slacking all day at work as long as I don’t get in trouble or fired. The burnout is real.