At around 40 my interest in actually writing code declined sharply. That was after doing it for 30 years, and after it hadn’t really been challenging for quite

At around 40 my interest in actually writing code declined sharply. That was after doing it for 30 years, and after it hadn’t really been challenging for quite some time. At the same time, my interest in the “big picture” increased at least as much. I found that I was much more interested in how the work impacted customers, how we could work more effectively as a team, building relationships across the company I am at, etc. At 48 I switched from programming to managing. It was a good move for me. I don’t love managing the way I once loved programming, but I periodically reassess and realize that although it’s fun to take a day and write some code here and there, I would be pretty miserable if I were to go back to it full time. I would constantly have to find ways to motivate myself to get anything done. I do still take those days sometimes and write code for our product, but keep myself off the critical path at all times. Management may or may not be for you, but it’s something you may want to consider. I wish I had moved over sooner. As an aside, I had read in my twenties about a theory that claimed something happens physically in our brains as we age that explains this phenomenon of greater interest in the big picture and less interest in detail-oriented work but I have never gone back and tried to confirm or learn more about that theory.