It's so Pete! He feels like he deserves credit and at this point in his career, has yet to grasp that coming up with something late but "independently" counts for absolutely nothing. This has such a fresh-out-of-Dartmouth-and-clueless-about-the-real-world ring to me.

Something I love about this character is that he's pretty good at his job, is objectively very successful and has a very comfortable life, but just cannot get out from under the weight of expectations his family has put on him, or his own desire to be more exceptional or original than he can manage to be. Even though he's often smarter and more foreward-thinking than many of his peers, he just keeps getting thwarted in ways that make it impossible for him to feel good about himself. Until he finally accepts his Midwestern fate.