46, I'm a senior infradev somewhere, and this year I built a 48 foot (half length) greenhouse to start learning how to grow stuff. Not as a plan b career per se but I think plan b overall is to have a few things going that can each chip away at the mortgage.

I do know that when I'm in that thing, I feel like I'm on a vacation. My corporate ego can't fit through the door and I'm just some happy dude in there breathing fresh air with fresh oxygen. If I can figure out how to live off the food and sell some of it (or at least give it away) then that's 8% of my way to transitioning out of tech.

We're all largely in the same boat. Every company's trying to save cash, run lean, reign in the R&D, scale the automation, use the AI to drop the headcount. Humans are cost centers. We don't feel good, we're all looking to get onto the same single elevator out of here and the logs they're a' jamming. Everyone goes home after work, looks for meaning on amazon, waits for someone else to say 'lets hang out, lets connect, lets be', and we dont, we just have this fantasy about feeling control, feeling together, feeling alive. Unreal engine 6 better make me remember what high school friends felt like.

We're all there with you. Alone.

Have you considered consulting? Could be a good way to explore other industries and geographies while making use of the skills you have today. I'm sure many people would want to hire you or work with you.

You might appreciate this book, too: https://www.amazon.ca/Second-Mountain-David-Brooks/dp/081299...

it seems that all human skills will be absorbed and serve as reference material for AI generation; I think the best approach is either to position oneself to control that process or to move into an industry where AI can be leveraged to drastically boost productivity.

What do you care about?

Lucrative financially or emotionally/spiritually?

Usually people pay money so someone does things that few people would do of their own accord.

On Bullshit Jobs

https://www.youtube.com/live/kikzjTfos0s