Ask HN: How does one find a research avenue? (retry)

I am considering getting into research, and I'm trying to figure out how one goes about finding a problem to solve. Backstory: I completed my bachelors in '16 with some significant side/hobby projects (kernel/systems) and I'm now working as an engineer at one of the Major Ones :/. Although it pays well for now, I am slowly losing motivation and creativity and it is replacing my 'engineering for the fun of it' mindset with 'do what you're told to'. I'll need to adapt heavily to be able to thrive in this environment as a generic software engineer. I'm not learning, I'm not specializing, and I start to realize that I want to put in concentrated effort and work towards something for myself. Hence the idea of pursuing research. Or working for/on a startup.

My reason for going into academia to pursue a PhD would be, to be able to focus X years of independent research towards an idea I think can turn into a product later. But that depends on the idea/domain, the supervisors I work with and how success is measured (number of publications v/s real-world outcome, which may have a gap). Of course if I can't turn it into a product later, I have specialized and can come back to the industry.

Please correct me if my perspective is horribly wrong : ).

Thanks.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17024792 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17027601