One thing I think is kinda strange about software development as a craft is how a large portion of the industry seems to believe that the end goal of spending 1

One thing I think is kinda strange about software development as a craft is how a large portion of the industry seems to believe that the end goal of spending 10-20 years becoming a highly skilled coder is to one day stop coding. You're either supposed to become a manager, an architect, or spend 100% of your time mentoring and reviewing work for junior developers. Personally, I like coding. I don't want to be a manager. I don't want to be an architect. I don't mind mentoring, but only if it's a minority of my time. If I wanted to be a teacher, I'd have chosen that as a career. I understand that many people do want to transition those roles, but I don't like the feeling that transitioning around the age of 40 is considered the default.