The only time I coded anything in the last 3 years (been a manager) was during a hackathon -- I made a videogame that integrated our technology in a novel way to expose a new market segment. It was by far the most engaged I have ever been to the extent that I booked weekend nannies around the clock to get more time put into it, probably 130 hours spent that week. The end result was something I was actually proud of, which is something slinging ads has never been [for anyone]. Afterwards, I fell into a depression, told my manager I was switching to an IC role, and even debated quitting entirely to pursue indie game dev (just about financially independent, would easily make it to a supply-side-favored environment should I wish to return to corp nonsense). Unfortunately, it's difficult to give up mid 6s for what would most likely be 0 income ever even if it meant being content.