Conversely, as a web developer, I have stopped working with this segment completely. Non-tech organizations of 1-2 people are way more hassle to deal with than larger organizations.
I'm seriously considering doing the same. What keeps me working with the 'small guys' is that on some level it's more enjoyable to me. I like making people happy, and when things go right these small clients are very happy, and they care, whereas no single individual in the typical company I work for really gives a shit in isolation.
With the small clients, I get to advise them about every step of the project, and they care about the result because it affects them directly in some way. As a contractor for a bigger company, however, easily half the decisions come from up the hierarchy and lead to work that I truly consider unnecessary. Usually this doesn't matter and they don't mind paying and nobody ultimately really cares about any of it. It's just work.
With the small clients I hate 1) often working fixed-price, 2) haggling over tiny budgets and taking risks, 3) incessant micro-managing in my area of expertise, 4) managing the personal psychological make-up of the client because there is no organization to temper it (or being a manager, I guess). But these same things mean that what I do is cared about, and money I receive is worth something more than just a higher number on my bank account...
Of course, as far as 'just work' goes I'm pretty happy with my situation. The actual work is still challenging and the output can still be somewhat rewarding. But in the back of my head there's this constant little voice asking me if this 'convenience' is actually worth energy and creativity (at least programming-wise) that I end up losing just to pay for my lifestyle.
I mean, if I have so many options as a programmer, would it not be silly to 'just be thankful for how good things are right now' when I'm one part of a small group of people who can actually choose to do other things that make me happier?
Any suggestions for a next step or alternative?
(this is from the perspective of a web developer, although I've reached a point where I'm looking into other programming fields)
If you're wondering what else is out there, perhaps the work isn't that challenging to you. You have a lot of freedom right now though. Why not explore other forms of programming in your free time and see what piques your interest?
For now I've been having fun doing more serious app-development, I'm looking into native (mobile) development via React Native, and I'm eyeing chat bots in the context of psychology/health (CBT, lifestyle, etc.).
So I'm okay for now with not moving beyond the UI/app-ey side of things, but part of me is curious for more intellectually challenging stuff that requires a bit more 'computer science' (although I never studied that).
So my suggestion is to just try different things out and see what you enjoy. Don't be afraid to put a project down and tell yourself it's okay.