Where ya' been, bud?
Well, funny story. I'm no longer at my former place of employment. After being shoved into an Arch role with no engineering (pure paper pushing), I not only struggled with crappy middle management, moving goal posts, cracking motivation, and a complete lack of enjoyment, I had nothing new to write about. You did get one rant about Azure WAF, but everything else in my work life was pretty...ugh.
I am super blessed though, a company heard my cry for help (and saw my resume...) and snatched me up. Seriously, I'm blessed. The whole pipeline from application to offer letter was 4 business days. Amazeballs these days when 5+ interviews and homework is the norm. And, I didn't negotiate anything, they came in with exactly what I asked for. Like I said, blessed and highly favored.
This company has put a ton of effort into automation, and it shows. They also have an incredibly smart C-Suite that not only "gets it", but is present and active in the code base. I love it already and I have not committed a single line of spaghetti to their github yet.
So, other than bragging, what's the point? Encouragement. I see so many people who are struggling with their jobs, or struggling to even find jobs. Unicorn companies do exist, and they are hiring. The effort level is high; get that resume polished. If you cant get it good yourself, get your robot to do it. Look outside the linkedin/monster/dice job funnel, they don't work anymore; seriously (look into AI solutions...Hiring Cafe is super effective)
Don't settle, but have a correct view of where you are in your career. Those certs and even degrees don't automatically mean Sr roles or pay. Invest a little bit of money into professional services. Get them to look at the resume, to practice interviewing, and to help you find the right position, for now and long term growth. Let them inform your long term path.
To quote my outgoing CISO when asked about a role at that company that better fit what I want long term: "No one cares about your career aspirations but you." So, prove it. And if you are somewhere you love, let them know.