What Happens When Your Career Becomes Your Whole Identity

The only thing I ever wanted to be in my entire life was a Good Developer. I started at 11ish and have basically done nothing else or cared about nothing else since then. Fast forward to _some years later_, I definitely did that. So what next? Money? Material possessions? A wife? Kids? Nothing seemed to bring that sort of manic commitment/excitement. I chose money because it was easy.

Fast forward to _some years later_, I feel like I have nothing. I am still only my career, and through no fault of my own (mostly the market), that's currently in a pretty shit spot. I make more than ever but my work is kinda dumb. And when my work is kinda dumb, my life is kinda dumb. And it's been <insert large number of years> since I started doing this, such that I don't even really know how to dig out of it. It's easy to say things like "Start small", "Rebuild your network", etc. But I don't really find meaning in those phrases.

So who knows. But I definitely do not recommend this lifestyle.