I left the electronic warfare industry even though I'd helped build a program from nothing to a …

I left the electronic warfare industry even though I'd helped build a program from nothing to a product bringing in $100M (probably billions since I left) because I didn't want to be in the war industry any longer where the entire legacy of my lifes work could be measured in destruction. Worked as a software engineer in industry for a while, gradually moving up in salary, then went into contracting. Contracting seemed too uncertain in the rural area I lived in, so though it was bringing in a lot of money I took a job as a software engineer in a college CS department, supporting various research projects. The college job was dead end, there were almost no other people doing anything similar to me, and there was no path to advance (unless I wanted to get a PhD, no thanks, didn't want to be a slave for 4+ years at even lower pay), but the work was very interesting. So I stayed with it for 20 years. Maybe I worked on some things that will change the world, maybe it was all futile. …