My advice would be - do not become a "software engineer". My advice would be - become a solver of other people's problems who happens to know how to develop so

My advice would be - do not become a "software engineer". My advice would be - become a solver of other people's problems who happens to know how to develop software. This may sound like a futile exercise in semantics, but believe me, this subtle little shift in thinking has made all the difference... In order to escape OP's "boring as shit" programming life and have a ball turning nothing into something, one has to change their perspective: It's not about the code, or the elegance, or us, or what we become; it's about solving our customers' problems. That's it. It doesn't matter if the solution requires the most elegant algorithm ever conceived or smacking someone on the side of the head; solving the problem is where the rush comes from. The elegant and cool code is the byproduct. Once OP understands this, he'll be too busy building and solving to rant.