Whenever I get burned out on software (in my case, Vue and React) -- and build complexity -- I always remind myself of those TRS-80 days. The only learning references around were the books for sale by the TRS80's -- a couple books on TRS80 graphics, Rodney Zak's 'Z80 Assembly Language', and William Borden's Z80 books. And of course the Tandy version of Zork in the little plastic baggie hanging from a wall hook beside 'Eliza' and 'Dancing Demon' -- and then the wall of brown folders of 'Scripsit' and 'VisiCalc' on TRSDOS 1.3 (?). Maybe the editor/assembler at the time, too -- 'EDTASM'. Don't remember if that was in a baggie on the wall hook or in a Tandy brown TrapperKeeper with the cassette insert and several tapes.
Those were great days -- and everything (for me, at least) was new and exciting. Nothing was ever too daunting or too complex -- even as daunting (and as complex) as Z80 assembly seemed to me -- a 13 year old at the time.
That's a feeling I always try to recapture in very deliberate ways these days. It's good remember how it all started.
Complexity is daunting today. I believe, however, that the power available far outweighs the total difficulties.
I am still inspired by the basic possibilities that most anybody can, with nothing but access to a computer and the Internet, write some javascript and html in a simple editor and make it available to most everyone in the world.
Objectively speaking, that's simple and approachable, far more so than anything I ever did or was aware of.
A computer contains practically infinite possibilities, and people who lose interest in that are really just lacking creativity, and maybe some cognitive ability.
I don't only program though, I am creative in other ways and I build many things that have nothing to do with computers, but I do often incorporate programming into these creative pursuits, because it sometimes pushes the project to the "next level".
If someone only writes "glue code" then yeah, that will get boring. There are so many other kinds of programming though, that many never even explore. 3D is a whole entire interesting field that is far removed from "glue code". Home automation is one of my latest obsessions. The list goes on and on.
I'm in my 50s, and I've been getting paid to build software for over 27 years now, and started programming on a near daily basis on a TRS-80 in the 1970s.
Please don't feel sorry for me. I still very much enjoy building software.
I won't necessarily disagree with the particular challenges you cite.
The total complexity is enormous now, but the tools and abstractions, which themselves have variable quality, and bring their own complexities, are tremendously powerful, and, though it often doesn't feel like it, effective.
Beyond the specifics, I acknowledge that 'the industry' has evolved in many ways and directions, not all of which are positive.
I face non-technical challenges today that, had I known about them 30 years ago, would have probably caused me to switch careers.
So, I acknowledge what you're saying, and to it I will only add this: each of us exerts a great deal of control over how we perceive the world around us. It's possible that the difference in the way you and I 'grade' the software industry is that I am, for no knowable or particular reason, more fundamentally optimistic about things than you. It's also possible that, primarily for reasons beyond our control, I've ended up working in more positive organizations.
To other people reading this far: two specific anecdotes about how the software industry has changed over three decades provides very little concrete indication for how your personal experiences are likely to go.