I have to agree. I had UX as its own specific job role for a little while and it was absolutely miserable. Not satisfying in the least. It might have been different at another organization but overall, you're just an appendage that's not doing a lot to impact the final product.

Much more gratifying for me, as someone with both taste and technical background, is my current role where I just do everything. Prototype, build, design and ship apps and the whole loop closes inside my own head. But I have very specific experience for this – I don't know how often this is really practical.

Either way, I'd probably hate having a "UX guy" hovering around putting his dick into everything I'm working on. I suspect the only time "UX guy" can really, truly work as its own role is when you're CEO or some other autonomous leadership figure.