frog in a pot
When I first started my job as a software engineer, I was working on difficult C++ optimisation problems and trying to wrangle SQL databases to get a few extra milliseconds out of queries.
Now I effectively glue different Lego brick cloud services together and spend more time in the browser configuring that in the editor coding. That's when I'm not trying to keep on top of the admin work that comes with managing several other engineers.
I hate it. And I hate that I feel I've now got too far away from the metal that I'll never be able to go back. I'm worried I've allowed my career to imperceptibly trudge towards this state such that I've specialised myself on work that I don't like.
I often return to an interview I had with a company I'd love to work for, and them effectively telling me I'd have been perfect as a graduate but not now. It makes it feel like I've moved in a negative direction in my career, despite appearances.
Spare time doesn't feel like enough to change my trajectory. I've spent months reading up before interviews only to fail them on some specific other thing that I neglected to read up on.
I guess the correct answer is just to keep trying. What other choice is there?