I've been really fortunate to have spent most of my career in places with good culture and people (and yes, usually small, but not always). Politics and other corporate bs is hard for people that care because they're just run over by those that don't (which tends to be the default).

It's really easy for companies to just look at programmers as people working on a car assembly line (no disrespect meant). I.e. you just sit at your station and put the wheels on as the next car body comes by. Skill and passion are not in sync with that reality. The number of projects where success depends on skill and passion, and this is actually understood/realized by anyone, isn't large. Starting your own company/business is hard for people that are more of the maker type and less of the business type (not to mention the other risks).

Going to work for a startup isn't necessarily a fix. Lots of startups where you are still a product line worker. That's partly because it's also risky for a startup to rely on being able to find skilled and passionate people.

EDIT: Also happy to read the author has re-kindled his love of programming. I tend to worry that my industry "PTSD" is going to make it such that I can't have fun programming again. As a kid I used to spend endless nights coding with nobody paying me. Somehow money makes it a lot less fun.