[encloser]

Wonderful comment. Mirrors a lot of what I've experienced directly or indirectly in the industry.

I'd add that mid-sized and up companies are usually not homogeneous. There are usually good and bad leaders, managers, and developers to be found within them. You can have a great experience in one part of a company and a horrible one in another part.

Another thing that I've found is that there is no "one true way" for a team to operate. I have found that what works best is to lean into a methodology that meets your business partners wants/needs and hire people that work well in that environment in that mode. Be it highly formalized and layer ITIL, super agile kanban+devops, or somewhere in between.