Ask HN: How did you end up in a job you actually like?

I posted a while back about feeling stuck in a rut with my job. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13477473

Things haven't really improved. I've switched teams. I'm doing work that is very necessary, but it's extremely tedious. I talked to my boss and he was on board with my moving to something more interesting, but he's gone now. I am supposed to do something more, but at this point I just don't feel like putting more time into this company. I've been here almost 3 years and I feel like I've regressed as an engineer.

I come on HN and I see a whole lot of interesting stuff going on. How do I get there? What did the people who work on all these interesting projects (e.g. conduit is at the top right now) do to get there?