Be very careful who you learn from. There are a lot of pretenders out there and doing what they do will steer you very wrong.

I have been in corporate software for nearly 20 years. During my time there have been three completely unrelated paths: career elevation, technical brilliance, and finally seeking employment. I cannot say if this will hold true into the future, but it has been true for a long time.

First, know what you want and that will tell you who to follow. So, let's talk about this.

If you want to ascend in your career you need to focus on mastery of only two things: soft skills and conscientiousness (awareness). Career elevation ultimately means some combination of management people and/or projects. You actually have to care about the people you are managing or you can be a complete dick if you are an outsider who knows the right people at the proper levels. You also need to be masterful at management of multiple work streams, calendars, and event timelines impacting multiple teams. Imagine being in three unrelated conversations simultaneously all day long and still knowing the technical details about what is happening better than the people on each of those multiple chats/calls without exhaustion.

Technical brilliance comes from building ambitious things. If you aren't constantly building new and ever more challenging things at work then you need to be doing it outside of work. This typically has a negative impact on career progression unless you are willing to get a PhD and make a career out of research like Roy Fielding. It has a negative impact on career progression because demands a tremendous amount of time practicing on things that are not directly tied to the key goals of your employer's business goals.

Then finally there are people whose only goal is seeking employment or raises from jumping between employers. This is counter productive to both career elevation and technical skill growth, but can be good if you are a future founder and are trying to build out personal relationships. I have always thought of these people as trend followers and bottom feeders from a technical skill perspective.