[pixelmonkey]

I have been in software longer than you (I am 33) and my wife is a doctor. If you think being a programmer feels like "blue collar work", wait till you see what being a medical resident is like. Try getting paid $50k/yr, working 80-100 hours a week, and savoring the rare moment you get to take a coffee break or eat a lunch that doesn't come out of a vending machine.

Serious "grass is greener" thinking going on in your post.

[anigbrowl]

OP's complaining about the lack of skill and scientific rigor rather than the working conditions, I think.

[busterarm]

Shipping On Time > Scientific Rigor

Like everything, you have to strike a balance. If OP wants to be a slave to methodology, they should stay in academia. Engineering is literally about managing these trade-offs.

I hope they have a stomach for the politics of it.