The reasons you give around "keeping up with new developments, new technologies, ...lack of creativity", lead me to believe it isn't the job that you dislike, i

The reasons you give around "keeping up with new developments, new technologies, ...lack of creativity", lead me to believe it isn't the job that you dislike, it's the environment you're in. I have a friend who was in a very similar situation to you and he just kept sticking with it year after year. He talked about going back to school and finding a new career, but it was always just easier to keep doing dev work, and it was well paid. He hated the tech stack he was working on (particularly everything javascript/typescript), didn't see how his contribution was meaningful, etc etc. He was ready to cash it all in again when he found a start-up that he really loved the product. He had a big say in the initial tech stack, and had wanted to dive into Rust. He was enjoying learning about hardware, etc etc. After a few months, he realized that Rust was a great language, but he was getting into more of the "new technologies" and it was a bit of a shiny thing, so he went back to C++. He doesn't care about the "technologies" so much as he cares about the problem he's solving for customers, and how that is implemented. You mention you "don't see the value...beyond the paycheck.", well, that's the value. Can you find something where you love the problem that you're solving for the customer, and hopefully love the product as well. Something where you can see the impact your having on the customers (and maybe even the world). I know it may seem all "we're changing the world" start-upy, but some people really are, and it isn't only about the money. From my experience, SF is full of the "we're changing the world" people with no real reason behind it. The less startup focused hubs I think have more to offer because they're not so caught up in the bubble. Just my two cents, hope it helps.