> willingness to ensure that work is formally recorded under your name
Where I work the title "Principal Engineer" is a coveted, well compensated, and rarely achieved. Those I've worked with are all highly effective and personable, but I interviewed one about how he achieved the title at his previous company.
His strategy had been to help people and actively give away the credit. In 1 on 1s or in meetings with multiple layers of managers, he would consistently emphasized the value of his other team mate's work. This ingratiated him with his team; years later, when a high dollar project was behind schedule and several key engineers had quit, he carried the project to victory with some late nights, and was awarded the title+raise at his next review. While the key project pushed him over the edge, he wasn't the only engineer there working late nights. He credits his promotion to the goodwill he'd built during his tenure by actively giving others credit.
This is one of those things where you have to be aware of the Prisoner's Dilemma; to a certain extent you can elevate a place by better pro-social behavior, or forming a pro-social clique within it, but you need to be aware if/when other people are playing Defect against you.
(one such way to retaliate against defectors is similar workplace anti-social behavior. For example if someone asks you to do something off the books, you can agree and then just flake on them and not actually do it, while hinting that if it was in the ticketing system it would be prioritized)
Now you know two, hello. I'd take those nights back, the credit (hah), and peace of mind in an instant. Short of the learning experience, I regret nearly every bit. The good will I built was... useless to say the least.
I got the bump in the end. How? Finding new company, both literally and figuratively. Overextension/sacrifice played no part and I'd like a refund, were it possible.
Unfortunately this can work both ways - if it's a low politics environment yes, it will work to the engineer's advantage but in environments rife with politicking, people will be quick to swoop in and take credit and at the same time give 2 hoots about throwing you under the bus.
Where I work the title "Principal Engineer" is a coveted, well compensated, and rarely achieved. Those I've worked with are all highly effective and personable, but I interviewed one about how he achieved the title at his previous company.
His strategy had been to help people and actively give away the credit. In 1 on 1s or in meetings with multiple layers of managers, he would consistently emphasized the value of his other team mate's work. This ingratiated him with his team; years later, when a high dollar project was behind schedule and several key engineers had quit, he carried the project to victory with some late nights, and was awarded the title+raise at his next review. While the key project pushed him over the edge, he wasn't the only engineer there working late nights. He credits his promotion to the goodwill he'd built during his tenure by actively giving others credit.