I'm an ok-ish web developer, and would love to fine some niches to specialize in like you mentioned.
* Compilers/DSLs/language runtimes/static analysis
* Distributed systems (on my list of things to learn, know basically nothing)
* More generically: high-performance code, doesn't have to be fintech-fast, but designing and maintaining code that makes excellent use of hardware resources
Switching to "dumb" jobs made my life a lot happier. While it's easier, the demand exceeds the supply. Easier career growth, and better colleagues (no egos, etc).
So, my one example disputes your claim. :)
Because of this statement, I feel like I finally understand the aversion in the woodworking community to pocketholes and CNCs.
Its not an aversion to the technique per se, its an aversion to the kind of person who uses them for everything.
Well, it's very easy to make a chair that works a couple times. Whether it holds up for a week or a century is another matter.
Either the code is short, or it isn't.
Either the chair supports your weight, or it breaks.
I think I enjoy these pursuits as an antidote to the kind of software I have to deal with on a daily basis - it's the kind that is so complex there are "no obvious deficiencies", so being able to retreat to domains where there are "obviously no deficiencies" is a treat.