Comment by throwaway77385

~7 years here. I couldn't have said it better. You summed it up perfectly. Matches my experience entirely. I haven't yet found a working environment where things don't get marred by politics and plainly rude behaviour, especially by managers. I am sort of astounded that friendlier work environments don't seem to exist. I've been in the business about 20 years and have seen better and worse examples. The best places I worked for got close to keeping me, but even those situations were temporary. Eventually, acquisitions happen, the direction of the business changes, the good people leave and then it's time to find yet another job. Between that and the solo work, I have stuck with the solo work for much longer, so despite its challenges, it still seems preferable to me. But boy do you have to take care of your mental health.