I think this is a little too cynical. I've seen elements of what you describe in previous jobs, but never all at the same time, and never to the same extent.

Then again, the culture and the work varies in different cities and in different roles. In London we tend to get excellent developers joining the industry (traditionally there hasn't been much else for good developers locally) so you can typically expect to have skilled colleagues. And the closer you get to the front office, the more money there is for IT projects, and the more remit you have for writing good software.