I wouldn't say a startup is the best place for the author, necessarily. Rather, any company where software (or related technology) is a primary line of business

I wouldn't say a startup is the best place for the author, necessarily. Rather, any company where software (or related technology) is a primary line of business, or at least considered so important to the primary line(s) of business as to be deemed (nearly) as valuable. The fact is most of the "real world" business and enterprise space, as noted by other commenters, just isn't about "developing software." In these places the goal, with respect to software development, is commoditization in order to reduce costs. They don't care if the code is pretty, or even if it actually works all the time. All that matters is that it works well enough to get the job (mostly) done most of the time. Software development is the same as tech support is the same as the CAT5 cable laying guy in these places. It's all "IT", it's all a (very expensive) cost, and it's all something the organization views with a snarl, not a smile. If you want to feel valued as a software worker, don't work at these places.