[rajatmehta1]

From what you have written, it seems like you are a hard core programmer.If you like programming then shifting to some other profession to earn more money , might not help much as you will always have the craving to sit on your computer and create code. Trading is good but risky, i would suggest not to risk all your hard earned money there though you might allocate a smaller portion for this. Since you mentioned you take only those projects that you are interested in that means you do get more offers, start a consulting business and give the other projects that you are not interested in to other folks that you hire and earn from their hourly rate.

[joelreymont]

I don't have a craving to sit in front of my computer and create code. I have a craving to learn things, get to the bottom of things, solve tough challenges.

I also like selling. I spent a year as a commission-only sales person, selling trading software over the internet. I think I did reasonably well and I enjoyed it tremendously.

I did notice that I missed the technical challenge, though.