I'm at the same place I think. If we're similar, part of the draw of frontend initially was that it was a true and interesting engineering problem. It was a uni

I'm at the same place I think. If we're similar, part of the draw of frontend initially was that it was a true and interesting engineering problem. It was a unique and challenging skill to get basic designs and stuff working cross browser. Now, it's sort of a matter of just re-solving the same problem—even more damning if you've come to the realization that most products are ppintless conduits for money and nobody cares what you do—which just isn't compelling if you're driven by having an impact or doing something novell. So I've been thinking about this...a lot. On the engineering front, I'm going to try and devote some time to problems and domains I haven't burnt out on yet. Embedded, game dev, AI, etc.. At the end of the day though, programming is very much programming. You have to identify what drives and compells you. To that end, I'm looking at the people who I admire most for how and what they do for others, and trying to see how I can do the same. For me, this is John Carmack, Armin Van Buren, and maybe PewDiePie, among others. I have no answers yet, but we'll see where it goes. Edit: I'd add that I don't buy a notion of "just doing it anyway" for the long term. Sometimes things suck, and yes you gotta grind through, but not long term. That's a good way to get depressed, fat, and hate yourself. Better to re-route and explore if you can.