To others reading this thread (especially people new to industry), the line "You don't have to tow the line, sale ially (especially) if you kick ass", while it seems completely reasonable (and you would think literally impossible to be wrong, is very often wrong.

Politics, and quite often outright fraud (disguised as something else, it's not at all difficult to obfuscate decisions when it comes to software), are very common in all businesses. The idea that you will win because you are correct is not necessarily true. It's probably a pretty good strategy at small startups, it could very well be career suicide at larger firms.

What does the phrase "sale ially" mean?

I'm guessing autocorrect for "especially", with the "c" fat-fingered to a space.

Ah gotcha thanks, I didn't make that leap.

typo for especially?

I've had a similar experience in big companies. While you're learning and you're challenged technically, all is good. Once you master most of it and start asking the deep questions about how exactly you're helping the world (and sometimes more importantly, the means for that), that's when trouble starts.

E.g. "kicking ass" improving infrastructure performance and having fun, then your boss asks you to delay (or never implement) certain improvements because it will be hard to justify the body shop headcount next month.

"Toe the line"