Background: Software developer with around 5 yoe, prior hobbyist for many more. Have been underpaid most of my career, found out I don’t particularly care for it. I’ve been basically been stagnating since I entered the fieldI don’t see a good way For a while now, I’be considering going back to school for an unrelated field, but every time I’ve tried I can’t afford it. This is due to various reasons which aren’t worth going into, some my fault and some I can’t control. I can’t even afford to go back to a community college at the moment for stupid reasons. Money is one thing, but the time/opportunity cost is significantly worse. I could maybe manage to afford it, by waiting one or two years, but that’s pushing too much time and reduces the value I’d get out of it.I’ve Aldo considered maybe trying to move to a different area in software development that I may like better, but that’s an even bigger gamble than going back to school. I’m unlikely to be good enough to work on the things that interest me, plus there’s a smaller amount of roles that tend to lean towards the senior side. My background and experience will almost certainly be a mismatch. It’d probably take me a year or two to feel anywhere near confident enough to apply, and I don’t want to sit around for much longer. I feel that I have a way better chance of getting into school, following through and doing what I need to get a decent job in a new field versus being able to get a job in software development I would like, though the payoff may be a bit quicker/ come a bit sooner. Not too interested in just jumping into any old position making more than I do either, been there done that. Money isn’t a huge concern in the long term anyway. I’ve barely been able to bring myself to write much code in that last couple years. It’s fun to think about, talk about and occasionally plan, but I’d rather just do something else most of the time.