Hey, so sorry to hear about your kafkaesque situation. It doesn't seem like it right now, but you're going to make it through this. You seem diligent enough to forge a better destiny :)

> Is this what work-life is typically like for everyone else? Moving from employer to employer, having such limited influence?

I've found that my influence is inversely proportional to the number of people in the company. The tradeoff is that influence usually demands higher stress and longer working hours. I'm now running a company of size 1 for maximum stress and working hours :)

> And if it doesn't have to be like this then how can I end the cycle of landing jobs that don't work for me? How can I put my skills to use in an environment where I feel like I have agency and am working on something worthwhile?

For career pathing, I highly recommend reading So Good They Can't Ignore You. Email me at hello@taylor.town and I'll mail you a copy for free.

Autonomy is a huge part of job satisfaction, and autonomy is generally best achieved through skills and strategic lateral moves.

My guess is that you should figure out what life you want to live, and work backwards on how to get there fastest with your current skillset.

Thanks for sharing and being vulnerable! Taking the time to discover happiness is an underrated trait :)