> Also, I used to really like programming. Like a lot. But now I hate it because I've been forced to program stuff I don't care about all day, every day for a d

> Also, I used to really like programming. Like a lot. But now I hate it because I've been forced to program stuff I don't care about all day, every day for a decade. Alternative approach: Find something that you care about and also that the business needs, and program that. Downside is you have lots of uncomfortable conversations with your manager about how you're not doing what they said to do. You might get bad reviews, or fired, or threats of either. But you probably won't actually get fired because net positive programmers are surprisingly hard to come by. Upside is you get to enjoy your work. Your skills grow instead of atrophying (or failing ever to develop at all). After a decade or two it's the difference between becoming a powerhouse senior IC, vs being an eternally junior programmer forced into management because you're too useless to justify a senior salary and anyway nobody trusts an old programmer who works for cheap. For me there's only one possible choice. Autonomy, mastery, purpose, gotta have it.