[frlnc_throwaway]

Not conspiracy-theory-esque at all. Great insights. You sound like a more sane and balanced version of michaelochurch. Maybe you are extrapolating too much from a limited set of experiences, but your basic logic seems sound.

I've spent most of the first few years of my career working for small startups, or teams where I was the only dev, so I've seen lots of engineering projects "managed" by people who don't understand engineering. I was quite capable of self-managing, so it was often frustrating being straightjacketed by someone who didn't really know what they were doing.

I wasted a lot of time and probably would have been better off in a larger start-up or company with proper engineering management and a defined career track.