The key is how you use LLMs and which LLMs you use for what.
If you know how to make use of them properly, know their strengths, weaknesses, and limitations, LLMs are an incredibly useful tool that sucks up productivity from other people (and their jobs) and focus productivity on you, so to speak.
If you do not know how to make use of them – then yes, they suck. For you.
It’s not really that much different from any other tool. Know how to use version control? If not it does not make you a bad dev per se. If yes, it probably makes you a bit more organized.
Same with IDEs, using search engines, being able to read documentation properly. All of that is not required but knowing how to make use of such tools and having the skills add up.
Same with LLMs.
Freedom. No company tells me what I can and cannot do with MY machine.