[daneel]

You've described my experience as a developer quite accurately, though all of my development experience (8+ years) has been in Canada. I'd say that here, the separation between developers and managers is very clear, and the derogatory jabs at developers was prevalent in 3 out of 4 of the development gigs that I've had over the years.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a strong tech/development culture here, or at least I haven't been exposed to it if it does exist. Most developers are content to see themselves as peons and want no part of the decision making process, which isn't doing much for those that do.

I've resigned to the fact that if I want to attain some autonomy in my career, at least in Canada, my only option is entrepreneurship.