Thanks for sharing. I'm having the same struggle and can really relate. I feel very lonely as a consultant trying to show a whole project how to be pragmatic and not only care about making better hashtables, but to actually care about the customer and the product as a whole. The funny thing is that some companies (generally younger and smaller ones) can be so very professional, while bigger ones house teams which are really stagnant and have a completely unrealistic view on software development. I suppose it's logical considering the "do or die" situation that most startups are in, but its sad to see these money black- holes thrive within large organisations.