[aje403]

I understand that may feel that way, but I think that perspective is complete shit for someone to have. Nothing is beaten into anyone. That is a losing attitude in life. Every profession on the planet can involve idiot managers expecting subservience - software is only a slight exception because it involves people with weaker social skills (sorry, yeah) and higher creativity. If you don't like your job, nothing is keeping you there. If you're 35, you have a decent salary, and you have a family or some other thing locking you in, your own life decisions brought you to that point. Any engineer can come up with an idea, make friends, start a company, leave the software world and start a coffee shop, work hard to find a different position with upward mobility. That's easier said than done, but life is not easy and it's full of choices.