I'll add one bit of colour. At the three places I have worked since 1997, specifically, the teams in those places, vacation/PTO time wasn't rigorously tracked.

I'll add one bit of colour. At the three places I have worked since 1997, specifically, the teams in those places, vacation/PTO time wasn't rigorously tracked. All three companies officially had vacation and tracked it, but the teams and managers I worked with didn't. We did put in for vacation, but if we came back early, or extended it a few days (with reasonable notice), it probably would not ever go into the system. If we were out of the office a day unexpectedly due to illness or family thing, that was almost never put into the system. If we wanted to take a vacation longer than the number of days we had available, that was just allowed. From 1997 until 2009 I worked for an enormous (at one time, 'Fortune 1') company. From 2009 until now, I've worked for a pair of mature tech companies in the SF Bay Area. In my personal experience, it all came down to the nature of the teams you were on, and the managers.