Not AWS, but yes, sadly I expect my employer is not the first one to do this.

Sounds like you have a lot going on in the real life, and I have to admit I am a bit jealous now, I def should "get a life" outside of my work identity, something I have struggled to do successfully so far tbh.

I'm also 42 years old. None of this happened overnight. It is one of those things where you have to ignore where you will be in 5 months, and focus on 5 years.

I didn't "got a life" for like 5 years (8 if you count my productive school years when all my friends were also devs). I tried multiple sports in those five years, doing sport camps on summer to learn new stuff (mostly water-based in the beginning, i had a 31-32 BMI). I finally found out two sports i really like, i moved in a smaller city, closer to my family, and now am pretty much fulfilled. I have enough money to offer great vacations to my family, i hiked accross Europe in the last 3 years (well, actually mostly Spain and Portugal, i'm doing Italy next autumn, so hopefully at 60yo my trip will be done)(Btw, Spain: Best outside sport infrastructure i've came across yet).

I know it's a really "just do sport bro" advice, and i know that not everybody can do it (i actually have ankle issues since i was 18, and slowly becoming obese did not help at all, but i found a nice PT and techniques that mitigate the pain in the morning). You probably have money so you can try expensive sports like sailing and parasailing (i know i did).

The pandemic helped me in regard with moving out, trying new stuff (i took a 6 month sabbatical where i tried half a dozen new activities).

MS?

With every year, I care less and less about comparing myself with my peers. I reached a level I can have a very comfortable life with and anything after this is gravy. I will work hard and try to level up but I won’t grind or trade any of my personal time for money. Especially with kids, I am very short on time!!

> along with the kraft mac n cheese which is an anchor nobody can escape

...truer words were never spoken! :D

Nice! The second best moment of my life was the first time I finished a century. What was your time?

My best time ever was with a large group of folks on a route with about 5000ft of elevation gain, and we did it in just under 5 hours. By myself much closer to 6 hours of ride time plus breaks. Doing a century is awesome, and then everyone says a double century is the same, just longer. I want to keep going and see how far I can go. I would much rather do this than learn a new programming language every year.

What are your times? What was the first greatest thing?

My first century was 4500 ft of elevation gain in Normal. I came in 2nd to last after an 85 year old woman who did a century every year on her birthday! I was 300lbs at that point, so it was quite an accomplishment I'm an 8-10 hour rider, but I always finish, and feel helllla good afterwards!

The greatest thing was my father giving me a hug after my first solo flight. He wasn't very affectionate.