Funny because that's exactly the choice I just made. Why should I - after spending 20 years turning myself into a top tier developer - spend all of that talent

Funny because that's exactly the choice I just made. Why should I - after spending 20 years turning myself into a top tier developer - spend all of that talent and investment fixing the horrible mess that two generations of management have created for me? I can earn twice as much freelancing or moving into management. And, honestly, I'm beginning to think that we should just let market forces do their thing. These are the software equivalent of the subprime mortgages - if I spend an enormous amount of capital I can stop it failing but I simultaneously remove any downside. So these "management" types can make the same errors all over again. Nah, starting for myself is much more interesting. That seems to be the Valley way (although I live on the other side of the ocean).