[ChuckNorris89]

Damn, from personal experience I echo your feelings about modern SW development bullshit and I'm 30 years old, though I ground my teeth on embedded SW which is more conservative.

I don't think I can make it to retirement at this rate.

[nybblesio]

First, I had to wrap my head around something very simple: who one is (I am a software engineer) and what one does to acquire currency are orthogonal. This is simultaneously obvious and difficult to accept in modern western culture. I admit this took me a few years to digest.

Next, I had to honestly explore other aspects of myself. What else held interest for me besides electronics and software?

Further, of these other interests, which of them were reasonably "safe" from outsourcing, offshoring, and automation? I do not want to transition into new currency acquisition activities that are themselves a race to the bottom. Tangentially, I considered the perceived prestige of each of these. I could give two shits personally, but I've learned the hard way that the perceived prestige of an activity impacts how others will treat you.

Finally -- as I am a software engineer -- how can I use this skill to augment my effectiveness in performing any of these new activities?

This is an ongoing process for me. I've always had an interest in the law. Law school is out of the question, so I've looked into paralegal work and how I could provide a unique service in this space.

Additionally, there are mundane dirty jobs -- specialized trash hauling, electronic recycle brokering, etc. -- that are poorly serviced in many localities. I believe I'll end up doing something here as well.

I view this transition as open ended. It's no longer about "career" but staying in a lateral thinking mode about combinations of possibilities.

[jeffrallen]

When I faced this question, I read Po Bronson's "What Should I Do With My Life" and it helped me decide. My solution was humanitarian logistics, yours will be something else. Go find it!

[chartpath]

I've been through similar "searching" efforts and concluded the same.

What about working in legal or medical software, since those industries will never go anywhere? Or any other industry that is boring.

[nybblesio]

For me, the only model of acquiring currency from software engineering activities is via product sales (no more selling my time or expertise). To this end, I do have plans in motion; however, some very important points:

- the products I wish to build will take time to do properly and I do not want to be in any kind of rush;

- based on my research, I believe these products could be good earners; however, it will take time and the majority of the revenue will be from the long tail;

- this kind of activity is high risk and I treat it as such. What this means, in practice, is that I put in my 4 hours of focused coding every morning and then go do other, less risky activities;

My experience has taught me to prefer transactional business models. Consultative business models spring from the dark side of The Force ;-).

As a vague teaser: one of the products is a SaaS modernization of a classic desktop database/application dev program complete with a recreation of its programming language; and the other is a game based on the premise of "what is an episode of sleep paralysis and waking dreams like?" I'm excited to be working on both but I have my expectations very firmly in check.

[poulsbohemian]

>classic desktop database/application dev program complete with a recreation of its programming language;

I'm picking up what you're laying down and think this could be brilliant, especially given several trends in both tech and market demand today.