Our team lost its best IT expert after 20 years in the company; he had had enough

A classic IT professional, one of the few positive individuals in our team, largely old-school, preferring tried-and-true older methods over untested new solutions. What set him apart was his ability to eventually solve every IT problem and his immense importance to our team. This was due to both his knowledge and his cheerful nature and relaxed character. Unfortunately, he didn't quite fit into our company's environment, which is increasingly leaning towards formality. I am relatively new to this job and can be very grateful that I took my first IT steps with this guy. I learned IT basics and methods from him, which still help me a lot, especially in moments when automation fails (which happens way too often). A few months have passed, and he has been replaced by another guy who possesses not even half the knowledge. He seems to be just another yes-man who talks a lot but does little. No one in the company talks to anyone anymore, the little positivity brought by the former colleague has disappeared. Even when you need help with something, there is no one to turn to, as I see that everyone finds it hard to spare 5 minutes for something that "is not their job." The reason he left was that his opinion was not valued enough, which is quite banal given that nobody knows this company and its IT systems better than he does. Unfortunately, it seems that such old-school IT types are no longer welcome anywhere, except to be exploited. Cybersecurity takes the lead in the company; everything is subordinated to it, and they push for software solutions they want, ignoring the opinions of people who know more about IT than the entire cybersecurity department combined. There are fewer and fewer interpersonal relationships, and more and more arguments, resentments, disagreements, strict hierarchy, as well as stupid, unnecessary rules. Of course, he wasn't perfect either. At times, he could be stubborn as hell, often criticizing PowerShell or any remote solution that wasn't PSEXEC due to his own convictions. He was a strong advocate for batch scripting and believed that it was all that was needed. However, all of this was mostly in jest and internal banter among us because he was never a conflict-oriented person by nature. But you just know that a guy who shapes a balloon into a penis and touches your ear with it during an online meeting must be just a great guy. Or he would just randomly play some meme song on youtube while working. I cant even imagine something like this nowadays and if anyone would do it, he'd probably get into some problems. But this guy just didnt give a f\*. The current situation in the company is far from ideal; it seems like we are improvising more than actually working constructively. Things that are essentially straightforward are needlessly complicated to enormous extents, and the tiniest issues suddenly become huge problems. It seems that this is the direction IT is heading in the future, and it all started when sys admins stopped being *sys admins* and became *managers*. I had the privilege of briefly experiencing the atmosphere of a good old IT environment; unfortunately, nowadays, I am starting to dislike this industry more and more, as I can fully understand my colleague who once loved and lived the IT but they have killed it in him. He has completely changed his profession and is now working in finance sector. Miss that guy.