What you're describing is, unfortunately, standard practice in the industry - and has been for a long time. I've been around for a while and have been as frustr

What you're describing is, unfortunately, standard practice in the industry - and has been for a long time. I've been around for a while and have been as frustrated by it as you. (Sorry for self-quoting, but I wrote about this in the last bit of http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3341058 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3341058) This may not be what you want to hear, but in my experience, organizations don't change much, so take your hopeful energy and channel it into finding (or starting) something else that is better. Hacker meetups and open-source projects are two ways to interact with other programmers. As far as work goes, try to find (or start) a place with a culture of collaboration. They're rare but do exist. The trouble is that absolutely everybody will say "yes" when asked if their culture values collaboration, mentorship, etc., and you need some way to cut through the bullshit. Best way I know is by knowing a person who works there.