I'm 35 years old and work at one of the big tech companies as a security professional, focusing on penetration testing, security research and some consulting. I've done this now for over 10 years and noticed myself contemplating more and more how to progress from here.

I do have a bachelor's and master's degree, numerous certifications (CISSP, GPEN, GXPN, OSCP, OSCE, etc.) and 50+ CVE's in common software products. My yearly income after taxes is around 150k USD.

Since last year or so I feel at quite a loss regarding where I am at in my career. I very much enjoy technical work and don't want to switch into a pure management position. One of the options I was thinking about was creating my own small company, but I am not sure if I like dealing directly with customers that much. We are also expecting a child, so I think it might be a high risk, since I don't have many direct leads for potential customers to get enough work and cover our expenses. Similarly, I am not even sure if it would make a big difference, since I'd be most probably doing the same kind of work that I am currently doing. Previously, I have worked and lived also in Europe and Asia, which was interesting to get exposed to different cultures, people and so on, but in terms of work it's quite similar everywhere.

I recognize that the majority of HN users are probably software engineers, but I think similar constraints apply. Curious what others are doing do "progress" in their career that already have a lot of experience and if anyone has any specific advice or recommendations for me?