I've been in similar situations (without the early career exit) but never resorted to stretching out a days work into weeks--that sounds mind-numbing. Instead I

I've been in similar situations (without the early career exit) but never resorted to stretching out a days work into weeks--that sounds mind-numbing. Instead I would sometimes find creative, challenging ways to get the job done in a more 'complete' or exhaustive/automated manner. But anyway getting to the core question. Without venturing on your own, working at a large company with strong technical leadership and a deep individual contributor (IC) career path has been my approach. Note that the 'individual' isn't the kind of solo 10x dev, but more like some of that AND the ones that level-up teams and the company. I tried at smaller startups but 'top-out' in around 2-years and either have to go into management or another company.