I’ve seen ICs lose promotions they were on course for and get wrecked on their bonuses for losing track of a single $50k/mo cluster in AWS and leaving it running though unused. At a FAANG company.

So, ICs who sweat that kind of waste are right to do so. If management sees that someone thinks 50k/mo is no big deal to squander, bet your ass there’s a good chance they’ll take at least a month’s worth out of that person’s annual bonus since that kind of money matters so little to them.