This is only true if you never expect to ever get promoted and your job has no performance based incentives. Especially in the US, engineering promotions come with huge raises and bonuses. Compounded over say a decade, extra productivity can land you in a very nice spot financially.
E.g if being more productive got you a $100k/yr more raise, or a $100k larger bonus, then it’s definitely not selling your time for the same money. If this compounds, like it does nicely in many industries (tech, finance, general “business” of really any kind), then your productivity now is worth real money in the future.
It also feels nice to, ya know, get things done. You don’t have to be an extreme pessimist about the good things you bring to the world because you don’t get 100% of the profit.
E.g if being more productive got you a $100k/yr more raise, or a $100k larger bonus, then it’s definitely not selling your time for the same money. If this compounds, like it does nicely in many industries (tech, finance, general “business” of really any kind), then your productivity now is worth real money in the future.
It also feels nice to, ya know, get things done. You don’t have to be an extreme pessimist about the good things you bring to the world because you don’t get 100% of the profit.