I work for a large company and I also feel the way described in the article. What baffles me the most is the constant need of approval in case I'm about to do something that goes a little beyond the "company policies", like setting up a public repository for code that's going to be released anyway.

Often these mysterious company policies are not explained in the first place, yet I'm supposed to adhere to them. So I find myself pondering, "Is it ok to do this?" Engineering-wise (and by common sense) it would be a no-brainer. Then I waste time and energy asking approval. Sometimes I get denied and so I wasted my whole train of thoughts related to an otherwise obvious choice. What bothers me the most is that the majority of people seem numb to these problems.

Why did you hire me if basically you're questioning my trust, and why are you blocking me from doing what I'm supposed to do? Then why you invite me to "fun" events afterwards?