I was hired into a non tech company's IT department as a programmer a few years back, and after several rounds of lay offs, we're down to a skeleton crew. I've saved the company hundreds of thousands of dollars with my projects and management has been happy with them (although most of the stakeholders have since left the company). Management now wants me to limit the programming that I do and spend most of my time on IT support: putting out fires, dealing with vendors, outsourced contractors, supporting company systems, managing projects, etc.

I am a little burnt out on programming since I've been pushed pretty hard for the past several years. However, I'm not sure if this is a good career move in the long run. I'm a decent programmer (and also good with databases) but not obsessed with it to the point of coding outside of work. I'm approaching my mid 30s and there's potential ageism to deal with down the line.

While I'm fortunate to have survived the lay offs, it sorta feels like my job is being "dumbed down". I have both good technical skills and people skills...but it doesn't take a genius to do what I'm doing now. And my success is being increasingly linked to others' performance rather than my own...

Just looking for some advice. Is it time to move on? That's not really an easy thing to do since I'd likely have to move to another area to find another comparable tech job. Should I go after another pure technical role? Or should I stay and try to make this work? People say do what you "enjoy" but it doesn't really matter to me as long as I'm getting paid.

Also the ageism thing is on the horizon and could be an issue eventually. I'm making a decent (but not great) salary. Should I chase money and maximize my income while I still have a chance? Or be happy with a moderate salary and 40 hour work week?