[thorin]

I think you got lucky with Java and were able to stay doing similar stuff for a long period of time. This is constantly happening in every part of software and has been for for 50 years or more. I "got lucky" with Oracle development and have pretty much done that since 1998, but I've also done a bunch of SQL Server, Java, .net and web and mobile stuff as well as cloud. I've also got learning fatigue and so I'm more on the business and architecture side building solutions at a higher level in large companies. It's frustrating sometimes, as I sometimes think it would be faster to do it myself but I don't have to learn the details of everything anymore and may be able to sustain that a little longer. I still read code most days and do bits of sql and scripting. I'm a little older than you too. You are not alone.

[clouded]

I think this is basically right. I'm not a FAANG level developer. I'd like to at least say I'm average and sometimes good. Mostly because I like programming and tend to care about doing a good job. But I got lucky to come along when I did. The point of my post is that I feel like I've made a mistake it may be too late to recover from. I feel a bit too old to start over in another career.