Yes, welcome to mid-career. You realize that you aren't paid to program, you're paid to solve business problems. Those are best solved ASAP, where code is tool

Yes, welcome to mid-career. You realize that you aren't paid to program, you're paid to solve business problems. Those are best solved ASAP, where code is tool (which you see as a scalpel, they see as a blunt object), you are a laborer (not an artisan), and ultimately answer to bean counters. I survive by trying to get the highest pay possible, giving just over the minimum so as not to appear lazy, and playing musical (job) chairs until I find a company with good/bad tradeoffs that don't irk me. If it didn't pay "retire-early" money, I would be doing something else.