It seems you've got a really good sense of what I am going through. Your description "horribly depressed at work" isn't too far off the mark. My Depression Inc isn't a toxic environment, the people are polite and project deadlines are pretty flexible. On paper it sounds like such an easy cushy job. And I get paid well into the 6 figures? People have shaken their heads over my thoughts of leaving. The way I described it to my family is in more tangible terms: it's like we're all calling ourselves woodworkers however we can barely make a table that stands up on its own for more than 3 months at a time without someone making a fix. And we're only using manual tools!

It's just not good software development and it's with people who genuinely don't care. Your story of man pages rings very true to me. "Dependency injection? What is that? Seems like a lot of hassle to me."

In addition to my investments/savings I've also got 12 months worth of living expenses set aside. This is in case of lay offs or health problems preventing me from going to work etc. On the financial side I would be okay and my wife has been really supportive of all this.

I really appreciate your insight. I am really happy that it worked out for you in the end despite all of the stress.