Same experience. I learned quite a bit simply by sitting next to an exceptionally good and exceptionally nice developer who was at least a decade older than the rest of the team and enjoyed helping others. He rarely got stressed even in crunch times and that put rest of the team at ease.
The simple idea of this being possible, and picturing the scene in my head, gave me a lot of hope. I'm tired of the atmosphere of fear in the office, and I'm tired of how I participate in it.
