This is why I solely work in government contracting nowadays. Yes, the bureaucracy is awful and yes a majority of the people just sit at their desk to pass time

This is why I solely work in government contracting nowadays. Yes, the bureaucracy is awful and yes a majority of the people just sit at their desk to pass time. But the work I pick actually solves problems society has. I don't care about the politics or whatever and I'm not judging whatever policies or solutions I'm engineering but at least it's helping society in automating tasks and making the systems for those policies more resilient. Is it avant-garde tech or AppGoFaNet-abbreviation like pay? No. Often just CRUD, some rule engines and making sure information systems are stitched together. But money wise I'll retire from this before I'm 40-45 and can basically do whatever I want at that point. Money is freedom. Don't underestimate that. This industry can give you a lot of it in a relatively short time and with the advance of remote working, you don't have to live in high-cost centers to earn high-cost income anymore. Just make sure you're valuable and don't lifestyle-creep your way into being dependent on soul crushing work because the pay is high.