I was a software engineer for just long enough to realize that it was killing my soul and so I scammed my way into being an engineer in aerospace. Protip: if y

I was a software engineer for just long enough to realize that it was killing my soul and so I scammed my way into being an engineer in aerospace. Protip: if you do some solidworks tutorials on your off-time to get some experience with it and have basic electronics knowledge from a lifetime of dicking around with amateur radio and electronics kits, managers are willing to overlook a LOT. Before I sat in a nightmarish hellscape of an open office staring at IntelliJ all day between Agile cultist gatherings. Now I have an office and a typical week has me working with hardware prototypes, building test apparatus, writing a little code but just a little, working with MechEs, developers, EEs, and piling schematic printouts up on my desk into precarious stacks like I'm a stereotype of a wizard hoarding esoteric knowledge or something. 4-5 times a year I go out to remote test ranges two weeks at a time to do a little R&D in the field which involves crawling around inside test aircraft to wire up instrumentation and flying around in circles for hours on end. For space stuff we have launch parties. Also, my workspace is an office with windows and a door that closes and seating and a whiteboard for ad-hoc meetings and I have not had to wear my noise-cancelling headphones just to remain sane as everyone around me slurps their soup and has conversations on the phone in years! If I had continued on my previous career path, today would see me trying to figure out how to get AI to get you to watch an ad about dickpills or something so that my employer could stripmine your personal data and now I build cool stuff that flies in the air and in space. There are options, though I'm not sure about the UK, for well-compensated tech work that isn't just sitting staring at a screen for 8 hours a day.