this does seem like burnout but there is something else at play here.
something which i have felt quite a lot is that in the 90s a lot of programming was creative and fun. it was to challenge authority.
it created things like winamp.. it really whips the llama's ass. when is the last time you heard of a recent startup with a title like that?
nowadays everyone around me is working on startups or talking to investors where they are simply falling in line.
the good old hacker spirit and the sheer disdain for authority and a great sense of wonder has gone. i see young kids, interns studying like crazy to get into faang, which drives me crazy.
in the 90s we didn't have that... there was only cool software like winamp... that too for free.. tell me a software as cool as that since ;)