Sorry to tell you this, but everything you describe is very normal/typical for 99% of "software" jobs. Your options are essentially: 1) Get good at dealing wi

Sorry to tell you this, but everything you describe is very normal/typical for 99% of "software" jobs. Your options are essentially: 1) Get good at dealing with all the non-software stuff you are dealing with, the administrative nonsense, arguing with the UI people ("collaborating", "influencing", etc.), interviewing, hiring, and you become a "company man" / middle manager. You can write interesting code on the side as your hobby, or occasionally at work, but it won't be a focus. 2) Get a job in a situation where programming/software development is actually a core part of what makes the company money. You might find this at some high-frequency trading outfit, hedge fund, investment bank, FANG/MANGA/whatever its called these days - even there, 90% of the software jobs are non-core monkey patching as you describe, but there do at least have some openings where serious programming ability moves the needle for them.