My career had a huge dip like this. Take a big step back, maybe a day or two off, and try to remember what you loved about coding. Then get the hell out of th

My career had a huge dip like this. Take a big step back, maybe a day or two off, and try to remember what you loved about coding. Then get the hell out of the tar pit you're in and figure out how to spend more of your time doing that. I build tools and frameworks. I do a lot of other stuff incidental to that, and often the "incidentals" are what other people hire and pay me for. But what I truly love is building the thick layer of infrastructure and interface upon which a veneer of app and decoration is added. I want to build Back End Code, for any of several fun definitions of that. I especially love building stuff that enables other developers. I also want to use Good Tools that make me feel good, and that build results that feel solid when I use them. There are a lot of other factors -- algorithms, platforms, languages, performance. And while they're important to get the rest done, they're not what motivates me. Those two things are pretty much what motivates me, and the rest is done for the love of those. Your two (or more) things are probably nothing like mine. But you really, really need to figure out what they are. Then stop "doing what a software developer does". Go do what you do.