Do a bunch of new things. You will find problems you want to solve, and writing that code is likely to be gratifying and exciting.

I was rapidly approaching burnout in software related tech work. Was light on code, but I did write code fairly regularly. And I just hated all of it, but was also really good. Trapped.

I purged one day. Had a whole bunker running in my house. All those enterprise apps and lots of cool things I made to do the job and make magic sometimes. It was my edge and curse. All around me in the end.

Changed scale. For me, that meant going back to the roots, the stuff that would keep me up at night.

Went small. Bought some dev boards and suddenly I was back to fun problems. Making video display signals, drivers for hardware, sensors. Decoded to set up an 8 but workstation. Apple 2 /e decked out with a faster clock, some I/O cards... just to pick up electronics where I left off decades ago.

Found out I still love all that stuff, but also found out I was sick of enterprise software.

I love embedded. Hardware, purpose built software, that whole thing is fun and very different.

Time to really change up, new career, new people. All of it, and that was scary as hell. Still is, but in that good, rise to the challenge way.

Today, I am into additive manufacturing, mostly polymers until last year when I got started on metal. There is a startup in my future and a chance to make a big impact and I am super excited about it all. I love the people I work with too.

Now I range more widely, electronics, having a scope, soldering things, writing code, connecting to CNC machines, making parts, and helping others to make the challenging parts they need, and more are an every day deal. Hobby fun, plus a lot of well honed, transferrable skills turned into a new reality and I am learning a ton!

I also found out I love that. Being around others who I can grow with and helping them too. We all have skills and hard won knowledge we share and apply to the problems at hand.

If you dread it every day, whatever that is will just keep eating at you. It goes slower and can be held at bay when you work with great people. I did and it delayed all this for roughly half a decade.

In the end it was the same, just slower. But it hit hard anyway.

I had to have change.

Once I started, and I did that by taking a general management job well outside my comfort zone, but that did require my various domain knowledge be applied to assist and understand the people being managed.

I found out I am the servant leader type. Empower the people, keep the crap out of their lives and put the best tools and people in their hands to get great results, and a fair amount of hands on. Cool, but I wanted a bit more entrepreneurial experience. That led to being part of an additive company starting up.

Did all that on some good advice from a friend who could see where I needed to grow and where some skill gaps were. Turns out that GM work was just the thing I needed to weave all I had learned together and be able to join a small team building great things.

Start seeking. Take a jump, maybe two. I ended up doing two, and may well do one more to in the new gig to come.

Have people who know you and who care?

Listen to them.

Often, we can see this stuff in others and give good advice and wisdom. We also often can't see these same things in ourselves. Too close.

Worst case is you have to do what you are doing now to recover, pay bills save a little and then try again.