[og2023]

I didn't think about explaining the obvious right away, so putting a comment here. Having a 'regular' job of a manager or a software engineer is fine but feels like I am not using most of my skills and not developing as a person. So the question really is how to apply this broad skillset to the world without getting into the confines of typical SWE roles.

[datadrivenangel]

Sounds like you should do some reflection and evaluation on the emotional side of things. What part of your dream of being an entrepreneur actually sounds good to you? If you want fame, software entrepreneurship may not be optimal for example.

Ultimately a job can be evaluated as: ( Money * Job Satisfaction * Impact ) / (Time * Energy )

[og2023]

Thanks for the question. I believe it's impossible to answer once and for all.

Currently, I like doing many things, finding the bottlenecks, and overcoming them. Today it's demand generation, tomorrow it's product and tech, and ultimately it's me being inadequate in some capacity. Which means lots of growth as a person, which feels very real, like you can be shy of being in front of another person and therefore avoid doing sales calls. This is big and feels much more real than 'growing' in an organisation where you're told to do XYZ to impress your manager so that they can beg their managers to get you into the raise quota, or even worse, simply bang your head against the 'we don't have money now' wall at a typical smaller company.

Being in control, jumping on interesting things to constantly learn something new and stuff like that are a good bonus as well.

[mettamage]

I'm really similar to you. I could've written this post. You might have ADHD, at least subclinical. I know I have it. I don't see it as a disorder but as a difference - in my case that is (given that it is subclinical). Sometimes the difference is empowering, sometimes it isn't.

What you could do, if money is not too much of a concern: job hop to different jobs. I'm currently re-entering the job market as a data analyst. I've been a SWE for 4 years. I might get back to it (probably on the data science or data engineering side) but man I'm happy to have a different task set for the next 2 years.

[og2023]

Thanks for the suggestion - I don't have ADHD. Good luck though as it might become challenging at times!

[ipaddr]

Companies don't want all of your skills. They want a specific subset. You need to do things outside of your 'role' to grow.