So - Itemized history to set the mood:
hired out of college in 1994 to do c ( no plus plus ) programming. Job falls through
Take a job doing cobol ( ick ). Company is sold , grinding the souls left , until I'm all thats left.
Move companies (6 mo after graduating) - work there 5 years, start as cobol programmer, climb the ladder, end up as database admin - ( db2 and oracle - certified on 7.3.4 ).
Y2K - transfer to forever job - locally its the place you work forever if you are lucky enough to land there( public utility, pension, etc ) - damn near a job that came with "golden handcuffs".
19 years in - after a reorg or 2 - my department finally gets a seat at the executive table, however the person selected to assume that position is a zoology major with a certificate from a respected business school. Thats it. The final reorg - I was invited to leave.
Off 6 months , given 6 months severance. Forever job gone, not for cause, just no longer existed ( I'm a linux admin / oracle dba at the time, they want to move towards MS - no idea why anyone would, but thats the direction, and I'm suddenly really expendable ).
Tons of linux and oracle experience - even some experience with docker ( which at the time was new ).
End up finding a spot with a smallish consultancy that is trying to establish a foothold at a local military base. Didn't want to work on a base really - but ended up liking it more than I thought - and had I not triggered my bosses boss's napoleon complex - I ( sadly) might still be there.
Napoleon goes off - tries to push me out - and finally I get a call offering me the same sort of job ( contract to hire ) for 30k more( total 130k). So sweet.
Start new gig , there a year and a half - kinda dig it - to the point I tell the GF I'm glad I switched jobs. That very day - I'm told the budget for my position has been eliminated. Best guess - I was the expensive piece my boss brought in - and he's leaving for a different job. They want the new guy to pick his own expensive piece. So - at this time I'm pulling down 130k, and have a TS clearance. Should be a gold mine, right?

It was more or less - catch a job making 150k , doing the same work as before ( k8s, docker, etc ) and out of the blue - 2 days before I'm to accept the tenative job offer for the 150k job a recruiter calls and says he loves me for a position.
I tell him the situation, its Monday, and I'm signing on Thursday - and I've got a day and a half of interviews scheduled between now and Thursday at 4pm.

Do all the interviewing - and it goes better than I'd thought it would - and the money is good - but there was some weirdness , the hiring manager's manager was based in India - and wanted someone from India for the role. The hiring manager -was in LA and he and I go on well - it was one of the better interviews ever - the salary was good , really good( 180k ) - but because of the hiring managers manager - the best he could do was contract to hire - which didn't include health benefits - and I already had 150k offer with benefits waiting for me to sign. So passed.

Finally meet with recruiter who I'd told he was likely to late - He puts in the hustle - gets a solid offer(170k) plus a 10k bonus ( mine after a year ) and vacation/benefits starting day 1 - AND the job was perfect for me - exactly what I was looking to do - software factoryies. I bite.

3 years in - project is ( and has been ) going sideways. The direction has changed wildly - and the goals are crazy ambitious - bordering on impossible( do everything for everyone , via automated processes , and make it simple ).

Oddly be pushed to a team that does support, out of the blue - and didn't like it. I expressed my dislike - and was told they'd try to get me back to what I wanted to do at the end of the quarter ( 2 months away ) - so I try to gut it out. Within a week or so - I'm encouraged to find work on another project and told my position would only be funded for the next month - after that - I shouldn't expect being paid. The whole reason I ended up where I did was to work this project - and I didn't sign on to be pimped out - going from dumpster fire to dumpster fire - I came to work a very specific project I was passionate about . There are Zero fucks available from the people in the chain of command. I either walk the plank ( and agree to consult on a project of their choosing ) - or get bent.

I've seen plenty of posts ( maybe in a different reddit ) where people are regularly discussing making 250k+. Where can I get paid - and find stability( while working remote )?
Boatload of experience( 10 ish years on the following ), k8s, automation, terraform, crossplane, etc - all solid.

So - at present - working the dream job that morphed into nightmare - and told If I expect to get paid - I'll happily accept being passed around - to positions I know little or nothing about - and get little say in the when and where .

I'm not young. I've got at most 33% of a career left before retirement ( hopefully) . Where should I be trying to land to get the best possible results out of that 33%. Any advice appreciated.