"A dev got sick, but we got to ship on monday! We gonna pay you mad monies to come over the weekend and safe our ass"
Paid good money, but was boring work. But I would recommend it anyone before starting to work for an "agency".
Product development > Freelancing > Unemployment > Working for an agency
At an Agency, I am usually brought in for green field projects that larger companies don't feel their team either has the time of expertise for. This is awesome.
Also, at an Agency, I get paid for every hour I work. This is not usually the case in Product Development, where salaries are more common. The caveat, would be if you have equity. Equity can beat being paid for every hour you work, but obviously this is not always the case.
Freelancing also means you usually get paid for every hour you work. However, you also have to spend mad time marketing and looking for clients, as well as managing taxes, heath care and other housekeeping items. I dislike this, and would rather have someone else do it for me.
An agency is like a freelancer but with more mouths to feed, you don't want to be another mouth to feed because the food is limited, they compete based on price.
But as a freelancer YOU can chose them, not your boss and as a freelancer YOU get paid for them and you don't have to feed your boss too.
I'm just saying, your better of as a freelancer who sticks with other freelancers, than a agency employee :)
Is it the pay/workload/clientel?
This type of work isn't necessarily confined to agencies. The same could be said for several tech companies building products (social networks come to mind).
If you're a technical person there are just far better things you could be working on than agency projects.
> them feed their shit to the public
A solution to this would be to work for an agency whose leadership and positioning is compatible with your values.
For instance an agency that focuses on clients who sell outdoor equipment for hikers, bikers, gliders and so on would be compatible with the values of someone who thinks it is a good thing when someone goes on a hike.