It feels better only as long as everybody else cares too. Being the only one competent in a room of imbeciles is a terrible feeling.

Hmm, this is perhaps why we get socially-negative businesses that often have very friendly (and driven, and hard-working, and intelligent) internal cultures. Competency becomes a fault line. When it becomes obvious that a large fraction of humanity just doesn't give a shit, a small group of people who are competent and driven turn their efforts to taking advantage of people who don't give a shit. Thus creating industries like market-makers, cryptocurrency, advertising, and AI.