[dougmccune]

This is probably just grass is greener stuff, but I've seen the opposite. Now, that said, this was post acquisition, but my anecdote is that in our case the ICs were shielded from all the office politics shenanigans and were able to just focus on delivering work. Meanwhile, those in management positions were repeatedly pulled into agenda-less meetings, were "voluntold" for tasks unrelated to their jobs, and were generally unhappy. Obviously it all depends on the culture within an organization. But in our case we worked really hard to shield the ICs from the BS, but those in management bore the brunt, and the burn out and resignations reflected that.

[BaseballPhysics]

I absolutely agree with all of this. Management burnout is absolutely real and significant, and I'm honestly a little surprised someone would claim otherwise. The only way I can imagine coming to that conclusion is to have either 1) never been a manager, or 2) only worked at companies with ineffective/inactive management.

[candiddevmike]

I think you have a different definition of bullshit than me. Sitting in a pointless meeting so I can daydream or work on something while half paying attention? That sounds like a vacation where I don't get bugged by drive bys. Voluntold work is the norm for ICs, my condolences that you have to deal with it. I think your list is a a best case scenario of the bullshit ICs might have to deal with, and it's a good example of my point: management doesn't have the same pain.

[redisman]

It’s not a vacation if you’re expected to deliver your tickets on time and it’s eating into your development time.