Senior, I respect your opinion. I think your skills are so advanced that you don't feel the impact as much. That's a different perspective.

>I am delighted by the piece of software I use. Those moments are rare and far between, and it's not getting any better.

First, regarding how much satisfaction we get from the software we use—I see that part a bit differently.

Because that's more about UX and product design than code quality. I think it's because in the business domain, people only attempt safe things. In the early days of the internet and the web, people didn't have a clear direction, so there were many bold attempts. Those original attempts felt fresh. But now we have a set of 'norms.' Most people just implement those norms. I think the reason you don't feel that freshness anymore is precisely because you're already so skilled.

What I'm focusing on is this: I'm not sure about my own productivity, but I'm finding joy in exploring areas I couldn't explore before. The problem is that most of this code just ends up implementing solutions that already exist. That seems to be the core issue.

In other words, both you and I have our threshold for 'average' set so high that the threshold for calling something 'good' has become too high as well.