How to find jobs with autonomy, low to moderate levels of work, and good pay?
I got bored with "engineering" here early on. Because of the low amount of work, I joined and even formed startups (this should give you an idea of the general pace of work). But, I was too scared at the time to branch out and leave for a small company. I rationalized at first that I wanted more work, but I heard so many stories of senior people who came to my company for less work. Some deeper, more sensible part of me fought the part of me that wanted to be challenged and find adventure and diversity and won.
After the first 2 years, I switched to a "process improvement" job. I found that it gave me a non-traditional role that offered me a great deal of autonomy, something I really likes, but it wasn't challenging.
I wanted to try management, which is known here as the hardest job. I applied to many positions, was interviewed, but ultimately didn't get in. I now have 2 very young kids. With the economy what it is and my age, I no longer want to pursue that route.
I hired a career counselor, who has told me I should be doing product design, NOT detailed engineering. After all his help, I am unsure how to proceed. I think I'm a "right brained" engineer. I find that every time I'm asked "what would your ideal job look like?", I come up with qualities like "autonomy", "work when I want to", "time at work to learn" and the like, of which few or none are the qualities listed on job postings.
I went back to engineering, and am now very unhappy again, drinking from a firehose of technical info that doesn't stop.
What is a job and/or company that I can transfer to and leverage my experience that will not kill me, offer a good salary, and allow me to operate with some autonomy, and is local (I'm in the Seattle area) or has remote work? I know, the best of all worlds, but humor me.