This is a tough one to answer. Yes, there are harder done people, and I suppose that is enough to end the conversation. The only part I'd mention here is that

This is a tough one to answer. Yes, there are harder done people, and I suppose that is enough to end the conversation. The only part I'd mention here is that you focus on micromanagement and autonomy, which alone, to me, isn't really the source of stress. I've had boring but predictable butt-in-seat jobs with clear instructions. You do your work at a reasonable pace, you will make your deadline. The source of the stress is being pressured to make firm deadline commitments under conditions of complexity and uncertainty, and the organizational aftermath when you don't make them (ranging from confrontational meetings, to angry emails to your boss, to threats to your employment, to threats to your professional reputation). I really have seen them all. Can't speak to how much of this goes on in other jobs, I'm sure it does -- then again, I don't constantly hear about a "critical shortage" of workers in most of these other jobs either, which implies to me that people with options may be rationally choosing to avoid software development in favor of other fields.