You can still find low level coding opportunities in embedded or systems programming. Low level network software, mobile networks, embedded signal processing a

You can still find low level coding opportunities in embedded or systems programming. Low level network software, mobile networks, embedded signal processing applications etc. What I really love in programming is the flow and focus you can attain when coding for hours with little interruption when you master all the libraries you use. You feel how everything quiets down around you, not because there is less noise, but because your concentration is so strong that they fade away. When you stop and go outside it feels like you have been on long trip in a faraway place. You look at people and they are acting just like before you left but you feel like foreigner. When you go to sleep you have weird dreams where you move in some data structure. http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/H/hack-mode.html http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/H/hack-mode.html edit: I don't think its fundamentally low level vs. high level problem. It's the quality of api/library problem. Compact and logical high level library that you can understand and master without continuous stream of surprises is what is needed. Verbose libraries with unnecessary "enterprise" cruft kill the hacker inside me.