Maybe someone else is in similar shoes as me..
So I recently got a job as a "software developer"... This is my 3rd such role for a company (The first 2 were at tiny startups, that lasted less than a year each. Now I'm at a massive company, helping build a web-based GUI in Javascript).
The job is going well, pays decent, but that's not the point. I talk on the phone sometimes to my friend who codes in C++ exclusively in optimization / algorithms / improving software performance (i.e. all back-end) and he calls me a "web dev", as a derogatory term..
I'm tired of this stigma. If I do anything web-related, I am not considered 'legit', or that I know what true programming entails. I even wrote a game using the Unity engine. But still I'm pigeon-holed as just re-configuring standardized patterns, assembling templates in drag & drop / point & click / cut & paste way, which ends up being completely uninteresting as software, and has no long-term prospects for me professionally.
I want to ACTUALLY design software, not be relegated to pushing around stock forms, inputs, buttons, etc inside a browser that renders it all.
I just don't know how to come up with any ideas or where to start at this..
I'm not trying to brag, but I am damn fucking good at Javascript, dissecting any new web technologies & APIs that come out, to figure out how to connect them all up. Usually in a weekend I can breeze through some tutorial, just start coding any kind of web or mobile app I put my mind on.
Django, python, reactjs, docker, angular, html/css, etc I've run the gamut of them all. I can really do it in my sleep at this point.
But this is a dual-edged sword as I keep getting trapped in a rut of pulling down the same standard npm packages, making a nice unit-tested 2d interface with bootstrap, etc and starting from there.
Maybe you can see my dilemma. How can I break this cycle and really delve deeper into making interesting software that really does something cool & worthwhile?