"Amazing engineer" doesn't have to correlate with getting rich in tech. I see a couple of paths for getting rich. One, be lucky and work for a start up that becomes a unicorn. Maybe not the best of plans. Two, solve problems for which others will pay for solutions, work hard, and still be lucky (just not as lucky as finding a unicorn - or maybe you accidentally make a unicorn). Three, be an amazing engineer, get a decent salary, save and invest, and wait. For becoming an amazing engineer, focus on providing solutions to the stage of company you enjoy working at. While it might be splitting hairs between being good at your job, I feel an amazing engineer does something more than just their job. They bring something that helos push the company forward. At the beginning, maybe companies need fast implementations that can just get by. Maybe later they need proper automation and tooling. Perhaps they need a solid team lead who works with people as well as tools. Maybe later they need more experience collecting telemety on their systems. Or need more elegant designs to scale. Or whatever. Experience, practice, and/or studying can help you strive to be an amazing engineer. If you find yourself not growing year after year, do something about it. Hope that was cohesive. Posting from a phone throws me off more than I normally am, haha.