I can relate: In my experience, sometimes your work is light enough that you can still get home at 5pm and have hobbies, consulting gigs where you do what you really love to do (even though that does not give you much money) and et cetera.... and that would make you satisfied with your life, besides.

It's all a matter of balance, sometimes you work in a genuinely nice place but you have shitty working hours and/or wage, you can't properly study and update yourself, no energy to workout or take care of your body or do 'useless' stuff that keep you sane (any hobby will do, rc cars, music, woodworking)... so some people find (for example) a good paying and simple/undemanding job with great hours, so they get home and can still attend uni, workout, have proper hobbies etc.

Source: worked at a place where i felt accomplished and technically challenged all day long but I had no free time, was fat as fuck, had no time for the wife etc... am now at a much lighter dayjob, managed to find time to finish uni, lost weight, have hobbies etc...

It's easier to argue money doesn't matter when you're not making a sh*t ton. If you have a family to support and are making a crap ton of money it's more difficult to walk away from. But yeah, it's definitely not worth dying inside for.

As one of my cow-orker says, "money doesn't give happiness, in the same way as cows don't give cheese".

It's easier to yearn for personal satisfaction when you have all your necessities (and those of your family) secured. Changing jobs to a less-paid one is difficult, because the gains can be quickly offset by the loss of financial stability, and let me tell you, if you don't have money for your (and your family's) basic needs, then you can be really unhappy.

Some things to consider: -Options that aren't better (especially for non-developer role) or not entirely sure what area of tech you want to work for besides Google, Amazon but can't get in. -Work that you may like to do if you were in a better more supportive team. -It might not even be tons of money, but enough to pay bills and save a bit, and better paying then many other industries -Not ready to start all over again especially if you had a new job every 2 years (sometimes with the same company but still, the context switching is too much now) -Visa, not easy to move from company to company

But yes it does suck to question oneself all the time on whether to switch it up or not

...This question seams strange to me - I did some contracting work for a while (not AMAZING rates but around the $110-$150/hr range ...working 12-14hr days) ...this translates to a nice $$$ pay day - but unless your really tied to material things - it doesn't really fulfill anything - ...I'm back to working a 9-5 ...and MUCH happier, if i was a single - douchebag type dev then... ya BIG $$$ money is important to them - they love to pose next to thier tesla or porsche ...

A life of constant hedonism isn't sustainable. Nothing wrong with sacrificing a few years to set yourself up for the next few decades.