| There is no one set formula. Everyone here can only share what’s worked or not worked for them, and that may or may not work for you. My personal anecdote: I’ve always tried to do interesting things with meaningful impact while staying away from dark pattern systems (ad tech, marketing tech, surveillance tech) as they are detrimental to society at large. This has led me to spend more time on safety critical systems. Also, I prefer to research algorithms, techniques and tools that other engineers can use to deliver products. I try to write code that other engineers will use. My choices have led me to enjoy high autonomy at the price of salary, which is about adequate at best. That’s the price of the moral high ground. It may be that what’s bothering you is the lack of impact. It seems that most of your research doesn’t lead to products, and the market share of the products also sounds fairly niche. Perhaps doing the same role at a large corporation with a large client base will scratch the itch. Govt. is also another choice. Policy impact can be massive. Your research will be more focused on tech that actually has a chance of being useful to the business and some of the code you write will end up in a production system. Now, this will likely still make you less money, sometimes far less, than the folks in operations, basically those in the line of fire responsible for ensuring continuous operation. You could go work for them instead if money is more important. That’s the fundamental tradeoff: autonomy or money. It’s entirely up to you to decide which is worth more to you. I won’t jump into opening your own business because that requires a completely different skillset, and frankly it’s very difficult to succeed if you’re not inherently a people person. It would only really work if you have a unique skill catering to a dedicated, pre-made market. Every other type of business seems to require a lot of people-handling, and overall is the least autonomous of the three. The client is always your boss. Ergo if you have many clients, you have many bosses. Of course, giving people exactly what they want can make you a billionaire, so there’s that tradeoff again. |