Lessons learned at office

I was just thinking to myself 'What makes you love your job?'
As I started to look back, several pointers struck me as important. I am writing these in my blog to save for posterity.
1. Always try to join a project during or close to startup. In this way, you will get most of the opportunites with time and will also have an upper hand over the others, both technically and functionally.
Real life scenario: I have been observing A quite closely since I came here. He is a hot shot now - apparently performing technical miracles every other day. As for myself, I happen to be the most easily disposable resource out here.
Two years back, things were very different. When I started off in my first project in this organization, I was one of the earliest few in the project. This gave me a good grasp of the technicality, a little of the functionality and almost all of the loopholes. A joined at a much later stage. He was originally a tester who got involved in our project as a configuration manager. He used to fix bugs here and there at times.
So, did that really make me the coder - hero that people thought me to be?
Or is A the new developer - messiah?
None.
It all boils down to who has been in the project for how long - provided one is sincere and hard-working.
2. Never be friends with the people who report to you. A friendly boss is good - but a boss who is a friend is not good at all. Maintain a distance with your team members. This is going to earn you respect. Also, appraising the team members gets really subjective once you get to know them personally. Have friends in office. Just make sure they are not in your team.
Real life scenario: In my second project with the firm, I was leading a team of 4. This was a classic case of 1 and 2. My team members were in the project from long back. To sink my teeth into the code, I got friendly with them. By the time, I got a hang of the project they were all over me.
3. Never dress sloppy at work. This can entirely ruin your image that you might have created over years.
Real life scenario: I am a sloppy dresser myself. And I have realized that people don't take you seriously if you are a sloppy dresser.