Went to school for electrical/comp eng. Spent almost 7 years at an automotive startup as a calibration firmware engineer. There are no receipts for my work in that field. Give me a diesel powered pickup truck and Ill make it go fast, but It's not like I could display that kind of work. (at least I thought)

Writing on the wall, I got into software a few years ago, I have about a dozen active FOSS projects on display (but not shared), multiple languages, multiple use-cases, so on.

Strange part, I never wanted to be a "developer" it feels and looks too much like a trade. I'm not a tradesmen. I don't care to follow "best practices". I care about the science, building new/important things because others won't. That's not the real world, but it's how I dream it.

I'm scared to be a modern "developer", writing software for other people to make money on scares me. Being another cog scares me.