I think the grass is always greener on the other side. I have a BSc and MSc in biomechanical engineering, was never able to get / keep a job in engineering for long but what I did do sucked—way more rote activities and way less actual problem solving than I was promised. Fell back to software development, my pay has gone up considerably but it is still a lot of rote activities and less problem solving than promised. So far the most interesting stuff I've gotten to do was when working either alone or on a very tiny team (2-3 people)—then you still have a ton of boring work, but you also get some interesting stuff too.
As with any "mental" job, I find I work best when I balance it with a "physical" job on the evenings / weekends, such as renovating my house or basically doing anything with my hands. When physical jobs were my paycheque, all I wanted to do were mental things in the down time, now its flipped. Neither is necessarily better or worse, though I do enjoy the flexibility that software allows / requires.
As with any "mental" job, I find I work best when I balance it with a "physical" job on the evenings / weekends, such as renovating my house or basically doing anything with my hands. When physical jobs were my paycheque, all I wanted to do were mental things in the down time, now its flipped. Neither is necessarily better or worse, though I do enjoy the flexibility that software allows / requires.