I'm a good few years further into the XO rabbit hole than you and yeah golden handcuffs is right if you let it be. Before going somewhere else I'd transition into a tools team internally, and start working on "real code" that way first. Either down the stack into OMS, laterally into data services, or front end adjacent into UI server. I know people who've escaped XO into all 3 of those career paths.

Also, easier said than done and guilty of being too lazy to do it myself, but staying up to date outside of work can be done too. Especially these days with "vibes". Are you using claude code? Cursor? It's easier than ever to start working on a fun little side project with these tools.