[2ICofafireteam]

Consider the possibility that it's you. Ask: Is it the industry, the company, the department, the city I'm in, or is it something in me? We all have a bit of a blind spot when it comes to ourselves.

In my case it's largely, but not entirely, me. No matter where I go or what I do, the biggest problem will still be there.

Whatever the answer is in your situation will narrow things down.

[AnimalMuppet]

But also, it may not be you. It may be that you're working on stuff that, while it pays, is still stupid stuff. Maybe you need to find another job, not that pays better, not that is less annoying, but that does something that matters.

Take my world - embedded systems. I could work on telephones for the hard of hearing, that give (mostly older) people their social lives back. I could work on medical equipment that saves lives. I could work on airplane avionics, that also saves lives.

Or, I could work on the latest fad electronic toy for five-year-olds, trying to have it ready in time for Christmas buying.

One of these is not like the others. One means little besides money.

Then there's product life-cycle. Am I creating the medical instrument, say? Or am I adding the 42nd functional mode, that can be used in 0.2% of cases? Those 0.2% of cases really matter to the people who are those cases. There aren't many of them, though. Or am I on maintenance? That matters too, so that we can keep building the device for more customers. For me, my personality is that I like being earlier in the life-cycle - from prototype to initial release, maybe the first couple of major enhancements. After that I get bored. The work is still useful, meaningful work, but it's not as meaningful to me.

So it may not be programming. It may be that you're building something that you consider to be a waste, or that you find little joy in the part of the life-cycle you're stuck in.

I can't answer that for you. All I can do is recommend that you think about it.