This is the way to keep being attached to what you create. Noone can force you to use AI for your own stuff. And if corporate life does get unbearable, there's still the path of trying to sell your own software. Not using LLMs for that is a big plus nowadays in the eyes of costumers too.

I think this is part of the reason for the massive explosion - close to cambrian proportions - in the indie games market in the last years. It gives people a creative outlet and if it goes well (sadly that is not often the case - yet. Steam has been experimenting heavily on matching the right player with the right game which has already made some impact in actual sale numbers from what i read, and the fruits of this experimentation are bound to come into play next year), it might pay the bills.

Edit: Here's Steams announcement where the are replacing curated slots with ones personalized to the account: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamworks/announcements/detail/676258795703240952

Sadly, I'm way more burned out than Pre-AI and I was a bit before then. (So I guess it just sped up the pace).

I have no desire to come home and work on personal software or devops projects. My Homelab sits in the same state it was since the last real vacation I had. Corporate/industry work has removed all desire for personal development work.

I've started my own project a few months ago (fully free mobile game on Android and iOS), it can be a fun hobby, but when it's not so fun you burn out even quicker. So I guess it depends on if it's just a small project for yourself or if you make it public..