I understand the authors frustration, and it's not really about money as some here believe. In my 6 jobs as a programmer I've also seen so many incompetent managers, so much time wasted, so much bullshit, so much backstabbing and narcissists galore. But the problem is not really about THEM managers, but about ME and my maladaptive cognitive schemas (commonly known to everybody as lack of social skills, subjugation to authority, procrastination, lack of discipline and so on). The bitterness results from the fact that even if you're a great programmer, most companies will try to stamp you into a predictable, replaceable and interchangeable little cog and will use you as it sees fit. If you're not happy with that, if you think you posses great insight and you can do better, you either develop your own product or you take on some sort of leadership role.