I am not looking to compete with younger people. I am mostly going to be in competition with people 35 years of age like me, who also have around 10 years of ex

I am not looking to compete with younger people. I am mostly going to be in competition with people 35 years of age like me, who also have around 10 years of experience in the field. There are lots of software developers that are doing very well at this age. No need to look at other areas of work for now. If the majority of 30-something software engineers can be competitive, so can I. Right now I am going to tech meetups (at least 5 per year) and am talking to other people in the field. It feels like spinning my wheels, though. Using those connections to help fill in work in between jobs is going to be more of playing a "long game".