Not sure why you're downvoted, but anyone that fondly remembers the "Borland Blue" days probably agrees with you.
(I went sideways and left software development entirely. But I'm 58 and very much still working with text on screens and routinely use dark mode.)
EDIT: Ah, checked your profile and history and it seems like you've become a writer? Hmm... maybe I could do that...
(BTW, the SSL cert for your website has expired!)
EDIT2: Thanks for the advice on writing, all! Honestly, I was thinking of taking the technical writer route. I've always been pretty good at authoring things like technical specs, so it seemed like a potential "lateral move," albeit one that probably pays a hell of a lot less than software development. I'm suspect that technical writing has some of the same soul-crushing aspects of software development, so perhaps it wouldn't even be worth it.
Unless you can write proficiently in the romance genre. There’s gold in them hills.
You'll find some of them on Royal Road. Lots of fantasy, litrpg, xianxia - fluffy serializable things.
My three reviews were solid (all five star), but if you’re not writing to the site genres you’ll struggle to find an audience. One of my reviewers even mentioned they’d never read a techno thriller before.
Also tried Wattpad and Inkitt - basically zero views on the former, hard to say on Inkitt. Their stat reporting is super bad. Got one review there, so presumably less readers than RoyalRoad.
They're interesting from many angles, although I think they distinctly lack in mass appeal. Unsong and HPMOR in particular seem to me like the kind of thing you would either love deeply, if they're in your wheelhouse, or otherwise find positively insufferable. (I loved both).
Worm, on the other hand, while in need of some editing, seems like it would be absolutely killer as an animated series in the vein of Amazon's adaptation of Invincible.
One issue that seems to come up in this space is the authors having issues getting into publishing deals. For instance, the author Worm don't currently distribute ebooks because of nebulous concerns about the effect on future contracts. Unfortunately this seems to leave such works in a state of legal limbo.
Idk what my point is, just rambling at this point. I have very much enjoyed all the stuff I've read in this area so far though.
Sold my first short story for actual money aged 21.
First novel sold when I was 36.
... Stopped doing other stuff (mainly freelance computer journalism) to sub the fiction when I was 42.
The sole consolation is that I'm doing okay now and my career didn't really get started until most successful pop stars are at the touring-with-the-greatest-hits-playlist stage (or have given up and gotten a job as an accountant).
On romance; yes, it outsells all other commercial fiction genres combined. But don't assume it's easy money: there's a lot of competition, and every genre turns out to be much harder than it looks once you dig your teeth into it.
I didn’t mean to imply that those authors don’t work hard or that those stories aren’t crazy outliers. Just that there’s more money sloshing around from a lot of avid readers.
As an aside, please keep doing what you do. Accelerando hooked me deep when it came out, and I’ve had a ton of fun reading through The Laundry Files. Thanks for optimizing your career for something other than money.
I was certainly not referring to you, but people who were in their 20s during that time.