I spent 40 years as a programmer, but I always looked for ways to use creativity and imagination and never be a rote coder. Despite having success in my last job leading a small team building a strategically important piece of code (if it didn't work all the time, there would be 100,000 angry people every day, not to mention a whole cast of angry executives), I finally got tired of working so hard and decided to retire. You must find a new way or place to be a programmer if your job is not motivating (like starting your own company or trying something new) or finding another line of work. Reinventing yourself isn't easy and is much harder today, but you can do it if you want it enough.