I'm a developer because I want to develop software, and by working for someone else, I'm paying them (with my time) to deal with all the nonsense I don't want to do. Things like marketing, infrastructure, support, etc... I'm employing my employer to let me focus on exactly what I want to.
I'm pretty early in my career and I'm certainly open to the idea of working for myself. However, there are advantages to having a job and working a little part-time contracting on the side.
Sarbanes-Oxley Act. It was enacted following Enron and Worldcom to prevent corporate malfeasance. Sadly it gave a lot of auditors a lot of power which translated to 'controls' placed on the work environment. Some make sense (e.g. no read/write access to production for development). Others make no sense (e.g. no access to log files from production for developers troubleshooting issues). It really depends on the company and the audit process.
I'm pretty early in my career and I'm certainly open to the idea of working for myself. However, there are advantages to having a job and working a little part-time contracting on the side.