There is no right answer. At different times I have optimized for career growth (startup), compensation (FAANG), and currently work-life balance and flexibility (consulting). The only thing I would've done differently is that I didn't optimize for anything the first ten years or so, and jumped on whatever opportunity came knocking. Though in the end it all worked out well enough. So my first recommendation is to identify what matters to you most right now and don't second guess yourself - there is no perfect job out there. As soon as your priorities change and the current situation no longer works, switch.
The second bit of advice is to always push yourself out of your comfort zone. Embrace change. This might come off as trite, but that is how growth happens. Many people seem to find a comfortable groove (I did as well) and end up stagnating, and it can be hard to pull yourself out. Good luck!
Would you be able to comment on how you switched to consulting?
I (mid 30s) am at the FAANG point where I optimized for compensation, but the stress of constantly having to make an impact and being subject to pressure from upper management and senior peers without being able to do much about it (“that’s why we pay you so much”) is becoming seriously damaging for my mental health.
I saved enough that I could afford the luxury of starting to optimize for work-life balance. I basically would like a job where I can do my 40 hours, be moderately engaged and keep up with new tech without excessive stress caused by large/ambiguous deliverables, and then enjoy my life outside work.
I was potentially even thinking about moving to a different career from SWE, e.g. developer advocate, solution architect, … but maybe consulting is an answer.
I wish I had a useful, repeatable answer here, but in my case it was basically all luck. A friend/ex-colleague had been recruiting me for years, but it was never the right time to take the plunge. Finally, everything aligned - the role became remote-only and stopped requiring travel (thanks to COVID), and I completely burnt out at my job. It was a good time to test the waters, and here I am, still doing it almost two years later.
I would actually filter first for who your manager is rather than the specific role. Your higher ups can make hard jobs easy, or make easy jobs hard. If you don't want to lose your grey hairs, this is the start.
Other than that, I would target management work for sure. Being familiar with the tech and implementation is important, but equally so is being a strong communicator. Management is an opportunity to strengthen that skill in different ways to what IC work allows.
Another avenue for the workaholic is founding a company. I'm not equipped to comment there though.
One thing that I realized way to late and kind of the hard way is that being an "IC" forever is not really realistic, and companies that say that you can, that they have a management track and a technical track are mainly lying.
Realistically, most dev positions only require, value, and will pay for like 5-10 years of experience, and will just churn through people in that range.
Even if you don't particularly want to be a manager, it's probably best to feign interest.
As a middle ager, you want two things: to stay relevant for the foreseeable future, and freedom to control your time.
Those would be my optimisation suggestions. You need to stay in a technology trajectory that will have utility into your 60s, and you want time to work on your own projects and potentially raise a family or find a mate, or whatever is your personal life goal.
It depends on you.
Do you want to work in the comfort zone of your expertise from the past or do you want to learn new things to push your knowledge base.
For me, I have to learn something... something... every day
Are they really hiring? Is the company healthy or about to go under? Will the pay and benefits be enough for you and any dependents to survive? Are they assholes or criminals or both? Are there opportunities for growth?
The second bit of advice is to always push yourself out of your comfort zone. Embrace change. This might come off as trite, but that is how growth happens. Many people seem to find a comfortable groove (I did as well) and end up stagnating, and it can be hard to pull yourself out. Good luck!