[nicoburns]

Presumably someone was still managing you (e.g. there was someone for you to go to if you wanted to book time off, ask for a pay rise, etc)?

[soperj]

Vacations are booked through a booking system, pay raises are negotiated by a union, so not an issue.

[Cederfjard]

Mind if I ask where you’re from? Even in highly unionized Scandinavia I’ve never seen software devs (specifically) join unions to any larger extent, let alone negotiate salary through them.