I think this is fairly common, my programming friends and I are in a similar situation. There are diminishing returns to programming skill. Instead of focusing

I think this is fairly common, my programming friends and I are in a similar situation. There are diminishing returns to programming skill. Instead of focusing on becoming a better programmer (learning more languages, frameworks etc) you should focus on developing domain knowledge. Most of the time, programming is only useful in conjunction with some other skill. Find some time to develop domain knowledge in a fertile area. Random example to illustrate. How do vetrinarians work? Maybe their day-to-day productivity would be enhanced by better software. If you have worked for 12 years, chances are you are better set with cash and can take greater risk. Why not get an idiosyncratic job like working in a vet's office to learn a new domain, or work in an IT job that would at least be partially exposed to a new domain? Get off the web/orm/whatever framework carousel, work on a farm and build a carrot picking robot, become a secretary at a law firm, get a truck driving license. Stop coding for coding's sake and get in touch with the real economy. Then start coding.