At the moment, I'm a bit younger than 32, but I almost consider relentless tech grinding to represent a silly sort of immaturity, or at least a bit confusing. As in "You seriously haven't found something else to do with the little spare time you have?", not that I'd say that.
Getting stuck in “career” mode consumed the majority of the last decade. Self taught is not an easy path, but my life is much better than it would have been had i continued what i was doing before getting into tech.
Now i just want to play an instrument and sit outside. :)
For the reasons above, I think it's crucial that people take extended breaks every few years to really think about whether they enjoy what they're doing, or if they're just doing it because they have the ability and otherwise kind of fell into a certain path.
Most people I know, if they are even married, are having kids around 35 after getting married in early 30s.
That's with many things, not just with a tech career. Jordan Peterson* mentions this many times: there are people that just work for the sake of working and then become miserable.
* I do not endorse every opinion of him, but I find this opinion of his great food for thought. I especially have issues with his Christian and conservative side. He's one of the few people that can break my filter bubble while I can also listen with interest to what he has to say.
I think you've decided that you don't want a family/etc. any time soon. No problem with that. But the other side of life that isn't about work requires lots of commitment, dedication, and focus. It doesn't work well if you don't put in the time and the effort.
So, I'll add one word to your list of excellence-attaining requirements: balance. You'll need it if you ever want more than just work. And you also might realize that a singular focus on one thing is not worth as much as you thought. I don't think you made the better decision among the potential universe, you just made a different decision.
Curious to hear more from you about what you want beyond work.
That said, it's simply not true that getting to a senior staff-level, or even director-level, position in tech requires busting your ass with 996 and no personal life. It might take a few extra years, or switching jobs a few times, but the higher end of the ladder is one with extremely diminishing returns on your personal time input. In certain positions your value is your ability to pattern match with previous experience, and such experience won't come to you any faster when you sit at the computer for a few more hours.
And if you go past that, into the c-suite, it's full of people who have a lengthy resume/connections and leave work at 4pm to go pick up their kids.
I agree with your comment really. It doesn't say anything about future potential or paths you could go down. Simply that to get where you have you had to act a certain way.
I know not your intents. If you like where you are, good job. If not, act different to get different.
This is the painful reality that anyone self-taught who wants to break into this industry will have to face. I spent my entire 20s grinding endlessly. Constantly learning, constantly coding, working 18 hour days nonstop. I studied CS theory, engineering principles, frameworks, OS internals, etc., etc., etc. to the absolute exclusion of anything else in life. Now at 32, I see my peers all married with families and personal lives. A life that I do not, and probably will not, ever have at this point because of the sacrifices I made back then. But I am also lightyears ahead of them technically. At my current job I've been promoted 3 levels past the midlevels I started with 4 years ago.
Life is full of decisions, and unfortunately attaining excellence requires commitment, dedication, and focus. You can do alright otherwise, but if you really want this and have the aptitude to reach the top, it will consume you.