Thanks for sharing. If you could share also, what was the field like for you when you first came in?
An analogy to the car industry holds very well, I think. Early in the automotive days, people built cars because they loved to build cars. As it became an industry, and then a mature industry, that was largely lost. Now, the people who "build cars" are factory workers, punching a clock and putting in their hours. The industry stopped being about excellence and started being about maximizing profit.
That's where software is now.
I'm not saying that's a bad thing. It's clear that's a natural progression of new industries. However, that's not the sort of work that I want to do, and not what fulfills me.
I'm increasingly suspecting that there is no longer a role for the likes of me in the software industry.
I've been successfully doing that for most of my career, actually! But even as a small independent, you can't ignore the nature of the industry. Especially if you're selling to the industry. So it doesn't shield you from the market forces very much.
I fantasize about there being a market for high-end, boutique tools, libraries, and such -- but I don't think it exists. I'm not sure that it can exist given the nature of the industry overall.