> Are there any non-self employed developers/engineers here that are still being "forced" to work 9-to-5 or similar?

I used to work at such place. The "office hours" were 9-6 and people were expected to adhere to that. I was an architect on a project and engaged in highly creative work so I tried to make my hours slightly more flexible, because honestly, my output was very high and I didn't think it mattered whether I was there 9-6, 10-7 or whatever. Soon enough I got called into a meeting with the company president and an HR person and was sternly told that if I didn't start showing up at 9am straight that I would be let go. I tried to argue that the hours don't really matter for creative work and was told "Don't try to make this company into something it's not".

Some places are completely fucked up and beyond toxic. It also just so happens they're run by idiots.

I think that might be the wrong way of asking that question. I don't know many people who are forced to work from 9 AM to 5 PM specifically, but I do know plenty of places where there's an expectation that you're putting in more than 40 hours a week regardless of how much work you're getting done, and a manager not seeing anyone in the development team's area at 6:30 is in and of itself a problem, regardless of whether the sprint is finished.

In fact, one place where I don't see this attitude at all is a place that does enforce a strict 9-6 schedule. It's more than 40 hours a week, but they're extremely rigid about it - no laptops go home, and working outside of those hours is more or less prohibited.

There's a lot of social pressure to be in the office during the core hours. People will schedule meetings onto your calendar during those hours and expect you to be able to make it, etc.

There is no such thing as job gets done. There are always jobs waiting for you.