I Have Transitioned Careers Several Times Within IT & Almost Out Of IT (Public Board)
Interesting career path.
How serious were you about switching to plumbing? Sometimes I will get these thoughts re switching to HVAC.
I have also thought about Accounting but yeah they do tend to be just as miserable as IT people. That's another field I've thought about switching to, but at this stage of the game, not worth it.
That's good you were able to pivot and gain experience in different sub-fields. You have a wide variety of experience.
My skillset is fairly broad as well. Most of my jobs have been a mix of support and development. I pivoted into more of a support role in a software compan in this last job search, even though I did have a couple offers from non-tech companies for pure developer jobs that paid more (which would have required longer hours and/or moving).
The boss and I recently had a one on one and he asked where I want to go (career-wise). I had no answer for him as I hadn't put much thought into it. I thought before that I'd like to get into analytics or data science or the like, but I hate to do all that studying without having something already lined up or a good chance of landing something in that area. I don't network with former co-workers or do any of that which I guess doesn't really help as far as career advancement goes.
I think I'll just keep grinding away for now, until they lay me off or I get burnt out, but probably should pick a direction to go before that happens.