[wnolens]

What is often hidden in these kinds of posts is a relationship with money that's not fully understood. There's thousands upon thousands of different jobs out there, but your post implies that there's none outside of tech. I'm assuming this is because of the lifestyle it afforded you which you are used to, addiction to cash flow, dependents to support, or perhaps an identity fused with high earnings.

Do a thorough think of how much money you really need. And convince yourself that a dollar more isn't worth any amount of extra effort.

For most people it took a 3-5 years in school or lower level jobs to get good enough to crack into the fruits a high earning software engineering career. If you were young when this happened, you didn't even notice those years go by. Now you're older, but the same rules apply. They just feel different and usually unmotivating. You may need to spend a few years at the bottom again to make some progress down a different skill tree.

When you're winning for so long, it's hard to imagine eating shit for years just to make bread again elsewhere. Harness some excitement around that and commit fully, or realize that you have a pretty great life and find a way to stay cozy in tech (like divorcing your identity from your job).

edit: also if you've only been in big tech, then get out. it's so much more fun elsewhere.

[ryandvm]

Agree. I've been doing coding for 20+ years and I've gotten to the point where I'm pretty unmotivated about my work on a good day. I've tried managing teams and it wasn't for me, so I went back to being an IC. I daydream about more fulfilling careers, but there's nothing I can switch to that would come even close to my current pay right out of the gate.

It is a strange prison for sure.

[badpun]

I think the issue is that many intelligent and curious people get restless when they do the same thing for years. Eventually you stop growing and you stagnate. First it's boring, then, for many people, it becomes depressing. Even Leonardo Da Vinci got seriously bored of painting (and procrastinated a ton on his commissions, dragging them for years on some cases) once he mastered it. That's why so many people daydream about switching to a different career, including plenty of people daydreaming about switching to coding. They don't neccessarily hope the other career will be better, but they yearn to do something new and not be stuck in Groundhog Day.