What has your career looked like? I'm interested because I've spent 20 years in applied research and I've only more recently realized the continual stress that I've felt for 20 years from trying (and mostly failing) to innovate in the "what to build" space.

Working for a salary on other people's ideas, LOL. Mostly incredibly boring ones. One interesting ones that fizzled due to too-low investment and too-safe management (odds are it would have fizzled anyway, of course, though I do think if that one had had the eyes of the right investors it probably could have done a "successful exit"—this was like 15 years ago though)

Same as 95+% of people.

For me it has been just saying "yes" when I was offered a job and when that one was getting a bit annoying someone happened to offer me another and I said "yes" too. I have ended up a bit underemployed and underpaid, but life's comfortable and safe and I have ample time to stress over hobbies instead of work.

So comfortable that lately I have declined offers for interesting and much much better paid work, because I can no longer be bothered to take any risks or alter my lifestyle.

But sometimes I wish I could have been the guy managing to get 10k MMR using knowledge I've got in spades.