Your Customer Is Your Boss
The piece of advice I offer to many people starting in their career is that your true customer is your boss. Many folks graduate school with lofty ambitions only to quickly realize the working environment is nothing like the academic environment in a white collar setting - project manager, analyst, engineer, etc.
You should strive to build the best thing for customers, but you must deal with the real world. That means when you deliver results, the people it should help first and foremost are your boss and their boss. It doesn't mean you should not make amazing things that help people, but the hierarchy is not to be underestimated, especially if you don't have the sense yet for how to play the long game in corporate America.
There's an excellent scene from For All Mankind. In the show, the scientists and engineers at NASA are continually working to try to further the goal of space exploration. However, there's a government advisor who comes in and continually changes what they must do, often this furthers the plot. However, there's a small aside in the second season that always stuck with me. In it, one of the engineers at NASA confronts him in his office (where he is, of course, drinking whiskey). The engineer accuses him of only seeking ambitions, playing the political game, and not caring at all about the mission of NASA. The advisor snaps at him, explaining since he was a kid he gazed up at the stars and dreamed of exploration. But, at the end of the day, the money has to come from somewhere and someone has to get that money. He is that man.
Don't compromise your values. Don't stop building. But, do be pragmatic and when you build, pitch, and promise - remember your first customer must be the people holding the pursestrings - at least early in your career.