Have you looked into being a software person in a non-software (or only "software-enabled") company?

You'd probably get a pay-cut vs. FAANG or whatever, but it wouldn't exactly send you tumbling into the working class.

I really enjoyed working on software in biotech, for example, where I started my career... and sometimes think about returning with all my software-company chops to see if it's still as fun!

I suppose it might depend on the domain / industry. Biotech sounds like it has the potential to be interesting, but I currently work for a large non-tech company and have worked in government and don't like the being considered the cost center or having to deal with the seemingly unending layers of bureaucracy.

In biotech, at least back in the day, bureaucracy depended on company size and nationality, and there never seemed to be enough hackers for all the random tech stuff that needed doing. I'm sure it's changed a whole lot since then but as a general point, it was a lot more diverse along any vector you like than the software world.

Maybe you should find a startup with no layers of bureaucracy and no cost centers yet? This being HN, there are plenty of them around.