“Even if you win the rat race, you’re still a rat”.
I’m in this field because I like writing code. So many of my managers tried to push me to advance my career, and generally speaking, there is peer pressure. Don’t give in, if you’re having fun, and make enough for a dignified living, that’s what really matters, not the title.
I was a business developer for 20 years, and it was awesome. Mostly worked 40 hour days, my work load was predictable, I had time to constantly hone my skills, and the best of all, I was doing what I loved.
Five years ago I transitioned by accident to an executive position in cybersecurity, mostly because of my emphasis in secure development, and the recent creation of the area. IT security always has been my second love, but becoming a manager took a lot of the innocence that let me sleep like a baby every night.
I'm not complaining, I had to learn many skills, took very different challenges, and while I barely code anymore, I've both suffered and enjoyed the journey and the personal growth. Nevertheless, some days I still miss having way less responsibilities, and a more peaceful life.
I guess my point is, OP should do what he thinks is better for him while he can get away with it. If OP honestly believes his happiness is staying a senior forever, more power to him. In my case I wanted the challenge before the opportunity passed me.
I keep getting pushed to move into a role that I know I will fail in. I don't get it. I'm happy where I am. Isn't that enough?
I am in the same boat. It also feels like the more time I spend at one company in one role the more I gain crazy amounts of context over every aspect of our software, so the less effort it takes to do the same amount of work. I can do many tasks in < 30m that would take anyone else an entire day.
The old guys who have total ownership over some esoteric but irreplaceable part of the code really have it made. Especially if they are working remotely. At that point you almost are like a piece of B2B SaaS software. As long as you do your task tolerably well no one wants to go through the hassle of replacing you.