The upside is to become a person who has done that kind of thing.

That gets you paid about 5x of someone who can just operate in an environment that's good to begin with.

I would take serious issue with this postulate. With less effort you could get a much higher paying job at less dysfunctional top tier tech company. You will also develop skill set that is valued by the above mentioned top tier tech companies.

I agree with you 80%. Compared to working at a crappy company, working at a top-tier is an obvious winner.

However, becoming a change maker is a different category of employee/pay/skill set.