"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster." Assume good faith. Respect others. Don't burn bridges (there may not be a second chance, please drop your hubris).
Strong mentality: Put your eggs in as many baskets as possible. Contrary to popular belief, you'll not become a 'Jack of all trades, master of none' as this promotes lateral thinking. Plus, this reduces your dependence on people: you develop a mindset that you can wake up anywhere and get straight to work.
Weak mentality: Being infleunced by the community spirit of tech evangelism in the 2000s, I usually give altruism a chance and don't mind going the extra mile. But if it doesn't pay off and even wreaks havoc upon yourself (Strange, innit? The Eastern world always talk about 'reciprocity' and many great ideas, but how often do they turn into realities?), just don't force yourself and do yourself a favour. Instead, protect yourself and invest in learning dissimilar things as mentioned. Who knows what the future will be. If it doesn't pay off, just reach the point of 'nicht geschimpft ist genug gelobt' (even the German engineering community says that) and call it a day. Self-love is a rebellious act nowadays.
GNU/Linux user and contributor who still thinks ccsm (CompizConfigSettingsManager) is cool. First distro: Fedora 13 (Goddard) back in 2010.
If you appreciate my work, I kindly ask you to consider donating to those affected by war instead.