I feel so sorry for you. Life is so very brief to be working on something you don’t like. I look forward to going to work every (week) day.
I work in a different corner of the development biz doing computer vision, graphics and new products for companies. This week I’m working on “reading” test strips for a new medical device. Last month I was working on the graphics for a landing radar.
At the risk of of telling you to “eat what I do and you’ll be as tall as I am”, I think you might find more developer happiness if you can get off the rails of business/web development and instead, work for small companies on desktop and/or embedded products. I think the key is working for small or tiny companies. Heck, maybe working just for a tiny company might make using your skills fun again.
In a tiny company you get to wear a lot of hats so you learn things and use new technologies.
That is a difficult question to answer. I mean, I get my work through reputation [1] & luck and 30 years experience but that isn't actionable advice for you. I would say that the trick to getting into work that puts the most "happiness under the curve" is to find a small company [2] that really needs you. Look for that advertisement on Craig's list, talk to your friends, develop a skill that you can leverage. [3]
[1] As I tell people: "People know my reputation - and yet they hire me anyway."
[2] The last company I worked at before going independent consisted of 3 people. The owner/engineer and 2 software devs.
[3] "Develop a skill you can leverage": By that I mean, start to learn something that you want to work with and then find a place to work at that will let you really learn it. For example, suppose you want to work with the Internet Of Things stuff; get a development board and do an IOT project with something like C++ and leverage your existing skill set (Javascript, Web stuff). Then take that little bit of IOT stuff and try to get a job doing IOT and then maybe C++ embedded. Does that make sense?
I work in a different corner of the development biz doing computer vision, graphics and new products for companies. This week I’m working on “reading” test strips for a new medical device. Last month I was working on the graphics for a landing radar.
At the risk of of telling you to “eat what I do and you’ll be as tall as I am”, I think you might find more developer happiness if you can get off the rails of business/web development and instead, work for small companies on desktop and/or embedded products. I think the key is working for small or tiny companies. Heck, maybe working just for a tiny company might make using your skills fun again. In a tiny company you get to wear a lot of hats so you learn things and use new technologies.