Don't be a drone and passively wait for the company to reward you. The answer is to look at the job market and decide if you can compete with cheaper workers doing the same job. Can you do it so much better than they can to justify your higher salary? I did that early on in my IT career when I realized that I was competing with Indian programmers who would do my job for less. I moved into database administration as a result and still have an edge.So what's the answer? Whatever one does do it to the best? Be compliant, be a company man? That's not the American way.