After a certain size, one of my favorite Civilization quotes kicks in:
"The bureaucracy is expanding to fill the needs of the expanding bureaucracy."
This burned me right out, and I don't plan on ever working for any Silicon Valley company again. I'm now happily employed in a small (10 person eng team) company where we are all doing meaningful work.
Agreed, but the small-company-doing-meaningful-work is also hard to find though.
Startups also often have their own perverse incentives built around the vagaries of venture investments or the whims and personalities of the founders.
ironically i posted the exact same quote before seeing your post. I've found that whatever work that can be counted as meaningful often also signifies a certain amount of agency that does not exist in a larger bureaucratic system.