Thirty-something freelance developer. What next?

Another thought is that if you're comfortable as a manager, and are already freelancing, then perhaps you could explore replicating yourself and building a consulting/services business.

Everyone wants to "make something people want" (you can do the "make" part for sure) and "be relentlessly resourceful".

No one want to buy a software, they are looking for solutions. Solutions that saves them time or money or both.

Probably I'm just an old spoiled fart having an early midlife crisis. I know exactly what I don't want and I know more-or-less what I want:

* I'm used to working remotely from home and flexible hours and that works super for me

* I love responsibility and independence: I don't want to be part of a team where a couple of people do the same thing. I can do the whole solution on my own OR I can be a part of a team with clear responsiblity separation, where for example someone does the backend, I do the frontend etc.

* I could come back to management only when I'd succeed with my own product and had to handle company growth.

* So essentially, in the end I would prefer to end up with my own product, but for the time being, I'm seeking opportunities that allow me to work independently (or semi-), take reponsibility and work from home. Freelancing does that, but as I said: most PMs are in their twenties, and finding well paying client that wants to invest in a quality remote developer is hard.

* Maybe I'm just whining.

Here is what I did in the last months: I trimmed down my consulting revenues to 2 workdays a week and am now building a lifestyle software business. After a couple of false starts I picked a product that a.) would bring me immediate benefit once it is built b.) already has competitors out there. That second part is important to me: It minimises my risk picking a product idea without market. If there is enough demand for my variant of this product is a hypothesis to be proven, but I am willing to take that risk.

tldr: I would not look for something that has not been done before. I would take something you use everyday and make it better (for you). It sounds like a platitude but I think there is some truth in it.

good luck

Off the top of my head:

1) You've got to stop calling yourself a "freelance developer". Start using "consultant" (and then read lots about what that means and behave accordingly). You are not a hammer.

2) You seem jealous of younger project managers. Are they paid better? Have they more prestige? More control? More influence? What specifically bothers you? And then…

3) Stop just coding. It's a great skill to have but you and me can be coded under the table by a 22yo who costs less, drinks more Red Bull, has more energy and fewer commitments/distractions.

4) We can keep learning new technical things but there's far more value in learning how to apply our existing skills to specific domains. Get closer to the "business". Learning more about marketing. Understand sales. Use your coding skills in those areas and you can side-step comparison to younger developers and the typical software project hierarchy.

You need to get this idea out of your head. Maybe a lot of "obvious" ideas have been done already, but there is an infinite amount products to be built. Society's needs change very quickly, in turn, products will built to accommodate. Look at ProductHunt, new products everyday.