I hear what you're saying, and to a certain extent I agree. However, maybe that's the other benefit of doing these kind of pre-hiring contract jobs. They let me see what kind of an organization I would be working with.

In any case, what are you doing now, having left your company because of the environment that you see as plaguing software engineering? Did you change professions, start up your own company, or find a company that didn't have these issues?