Your self-description resonated with me: good at physics and math, never really programmed much outside of school, saw some coolness in it, sort of enjoy doing

Your self-description resonated with me: good at physics and math, never really programmed much outside of school, saw some coolness in it, sort of enjoy doing it, a little, from time to time, but not enough to really do it as a career. Nearing 50, I've been a consultant (information security, mostly government space), a development manager, a system architect, and a developer. I love, LOVE, solving customer problems. I'm really, REALLY good at it. But I don't like to code. Not for more than a few minutes at a time. I would NEVER hire me as a developer: I'm just not good enough, not productive enough. I write relatively error free, bullet proof code, but I am very, very slow. So the value isn't there, even if the code can be left alone for a long time. There are markets for that, but not in the languages at which I excel, and I have zero interest in learning others. Less than zero. I would, however, hire me any day of the week as a system architect, especially one who had to work with non-technical people and translate vague requirements into something that could work. I would also hire me, any day of the week, as a software development manager, senior manager, or VP (sorry, don't want the job, consulting is too sweet a gig): I am very, very good at estimating (design, development, test, documentation), organizing all of that, and managing it, and managing the people who manage it. I've been a pretty good shit-shield for my staff, keeping away all organizational disruptions. I excel with mixed bag teams where I get to set architectural direction with the assistance of a few really bright people, and set organizational priorities for that team, and for the broader team: What we develop is what you sell, what you need to sell is what we will develop. Perhaps your path lies therein, somewheresomehow. If you have technical skill and people skill and vision and strong sense of what could go wrong and how to mitigate it, there will be places for you. (I hate sales. I like the product management aspect of marketing, and some of the branding aspects, but despise a lot of the rest. Operations? Bleagh. Of course, I do all of that as a one-man-shop, but as a necessity to enable what pays the bills. YMMV, of course. If you want to lead a shop, learn those, you'll need to understand them.)