Maybe this says more about me than anything else… But for me, I’d rather be judged by my work than appearance or credentials. The worse I can look in a corporate environment and still maintain a reputation of a great engineer the more authentic I feel my reputation is.
When I retire I aspire to be well respected by everyone in spite of looking like a category 5 dumpster fire.
Imo, it’s worth getting to the end at this point… You’re already past the worst. Brandon Sanderson finished the series and if he does anything well it’s building an avalanche of a climax.