I feel ya! So my experience is not exactly the same, but I really get where you're coming from... About a decade ago was the last time that I touched any code

I feel ya! So my experience is not exactly the same, but I really get where you're coming from... About a decade ago was the last time that I touched any code as part of my dayjob. I was a web developer for 6 years, and I've been either a project manager or product manager for almost 10 years...and funny enough, for the latter couple of years as a dev. I yearned to move to a position where I sat between the "tech" teams and the "business" teams. I thought this was a natural progression up. I was told that I had a knack for explaining complex and technical things in easy-to-digest way for non-techies. So I tried the non-dev route. Fast-forward some time, and I've changed companies a couple of times since then, and without looking almost a decade has passed. My current and last job has led me to the most disappointing moments of my professional career. I won't say depression but feels pretty close to it. In my case i think it feels like nowadays I'm not building anything. The feeling that I used to get as a developer was that I was building something. I totally get that building something means different things between someone who sits at a desk and churns out code vs. people who build essential things such as wells and irrigation systems for some struggling third world country...nevertheless, at the end of my days as a "coder" i still felt like I introduced something into this world; I had such a sense of accomplishment, even if my salary didn't express that. In the last decade, I'm lucky enough to have had something to take my mind off things: in essence, my family. If it wasn't for my wife and daughter to fill my days with joy (and yes the usual family ups-and-downs, but hey, its still a distraction!)...if it wasn't for my family, surely I would have slipped into a deep depression. What makes things tough - now - is that after almost a decade of not touching code, its that much harder to "go back into codding", at least as a dayjob. Ok, I'm stopping now because this is mere blathering (and i should just post on my own). ...Suffice it to state: YOU ARE NOT ALONE with the remorse you feel with direction of your professional career! The only tiny bit of advice I can provide to you: find a healthy mix of non-work-related distractions in your life AND jump around to different companies. The fact that you have such great experience is something some relevant company will find useful; you simply need to tell them your goals, and hope things align. Good luck!