I've worked at two companies where people pooled vacation time for sick co-workers who had already been granted extended leave time by the company way past the company norm when they got cancer. If that is not an act of friendship what is it? I've worked on a team where we scheduled our production schedule and the company their release schedule for a year around making sure a co-worker could go back to their country of origin for a couple of months. This was neither a technically irreplicable nor senior individual but they were valued because they were part of our team. When I had kids my coworkers surprised me with a ton of baby clothes. Those people were definitely my friends and we definitely had each others backs. I've been to more work friend's weddings than any other weddings.

I burned out and crashed and burned, but it was more about me finding my self worth in work and the need to be superman and get that recognition and then later to keep funding a lifestyle that I again has substituted as my value and self worth.