Putting it in neutral stops the engine from powering the wheels. How is that pointless?

This is really dumb advice. If your accelerator gets stuck, you hit the brakes and go into neutral. There is absolutely no reason to not go into neutral. During the whole Toyota accelerator scandal, there were people who were unable to overpower the accelerator with brakes.

> I never once said I was self-made

When you say "I'm proof that it works", "it" being the work and choices you made, that's being self-made.

> I have taken advantage of the opportunities laid in front of me

Right. I'm saying you are privileged to have those opportunities. The person cleaning toilets at Wendy's (that was your example) doesn't have professional development opportunities like an accountant. Being the best toilet cleaner gets you more toilets to clean.

> Why would you try to discount the advice I’m giving?

Because it's a view of the world that only applies to a relatively privileged few, and seems insulting to those that are not. The person at Wendy's is far better off trying to attend night school or other education opportunities outside of work. Putting in maximum effort at Wendy's comes at a huge opportunity cost. You should be turning down those extra shifts to work on getting out of Wendy's. Taking advantage of professional development is great for those who have it available, but you tried to pretend this can apply to toilet cleaners.

> I didn’t start here….I am just repeating what I have done in my career to get here.

You started somewhere, and it was probably a more advantageous position than most. You are born into a family with an economic class. Higher economic class = more property taxes = better funded schools. Living in a nicer area provides better work opportunities. Your connections were influenced by where you lived and where you went to school. You probably didn't have parents working multiple jobs. Maybe you got financial help with college. There are a lot of things people take for granted when creating their "self-made" narrative. Nobody is self-made. This is a good read on the subject. You may be a victim of the fundamental attribution error.

I feel like you have a different experience than most people. A common result of taking on more responsibility is that you get more work with the same pay. Then your expectations go up, and your perceived performance goes down. Greedy assholes and shitty management won't provide resources and opportunities to better the lives of their employees; that's why they are greedy and shitty.

My counter advice is to find a place you don't hate, work at a comfortable pace to avoid burnout, and seek opportunities in your free time. The best way to progress your career and increase wages is to move to a new employer.

My best teacher was high school Spanish. He was easy going and made class fun. I still remember much of the material from his classes because of that. I feel like "too strict" and "too hard" are not necessarily related to taking an interest in students and having high expectations. It's possible that you had a good experience with these teachers that were horrible to other people. Teachers can play favorites.

It's basically the same interface, so I imagine OP is calling Google's interface "Gmail".

Google offers business email just like Microsoft.