Nobody got promoted for improving core functionality.
It depends on the company.
If you work for a hyper-scale tech company that only cares about money money money, then yeah -- nobody's getting promoted for improving core functionality.
But I've worked at several companies where that sort of thing is not only rewarded, but celebrated. One was a factory. Another was healthcare. Tech is the aberation, but on HN we pretend that it's normal and good.
It depends on the company.
If you work for a hyper-scale tech company that only cares about money money money, then yeah -- nobody's getting promoted for improving core functionality.
But I've worked at several companies where that sort of thing is not only rewarded, but celebrated. One was a factory. Another was healthcare. Tech is the aberation, but on HN we pretend that it's normal and good.