interesting! As one of the top performers in my major as a senior, I think I self-inflict this a little bit to keep myself sharp / hungry. Kids call me crazy and say I've had all kinds of success, but I don't compare myself to the apathy I see around me and putting a chip on my shoulder compared to 'elite' devs has worked for me.

Privately I think most people have this but don't want to admit it because they think someone would call them out on it. From what I see/experience it seems like the world mostly runs on people trying to impress other people because that's the only validation for our own skills we get.

Thanks for these. The first one describes me in many ways.