Look for the duct tape
As an engineer-turned-programmer&#x2F;sysadmin, working with other engineers, I&#x27;ve built a career out of doing this. Unfortunately, as a person with only-marginally-better-emotional-quotient than other engineers, I&#x27;ve expected my solutions to be widely regarded, based purely on merit. After 25 years of this, I&#x27;m once again hitting roadblock after roadblock because I didn&#x27;t &quot;kiss the ring&quot; of the people in charge.<p>I&#x27;ve made them look stupid by building something pretty good where they have been failing for 10 years with an entire team. Then I went and wrote another application in a strange new framework that had been invented in the past 15 years, and this startled and frightened them.<p>Don&#x27;t be like me, kids. Play the political game. If you don&#x27;t want your managers being told to dismantle the things you build, simply because you didn&#x27;t kiss enough butt, learn how to raise your &quot;EQ&quot; and ensure the success of what you build. Otherwise, like me, you will have just written a bunch of stuff users loved, but management hated, and forced them to stop using.<p>It&#x27;s too late for me; save yourselves.