For me, it's tech debt. I spend most of my time replacing the code someone else developed years ago. Am I making it better and more scalable? I hope so. But I'm sure the previous developers felt the same way.
Btw - I've been developing since 1999 as well, so there are plenty of people cleaning up the debt I left.
"T-Mobile’s reddit forums are filled with employees saying the disruptive spirit of the company has been dead since the merger." This argument has less to do with the merger and more to do with AT&T's 3 Billion in cash T-Mo (Deutsche Telekom) received when AT&T failed to buy them is now gone. It's a little easier to be disruptive when you are spending someone else's money.
Btw - I've been developing since 1999 as well, so there are plenty of people cleaning up the debt I left.