Sorry for writing something a bit tangential, I'm mostly replying to the heading not the content.
I keep seeing the same point that argues against how "not fun, depressing, worse a <thing> has gotten these days". The most recent incarnation of that is how programming with AI feels worse than programming on your own.
I don't think the problem is inability to find a way to derive fun, the way you could previously. The problem is deriving fun while still getting paid for it.
To reiterate on the web-dev, you probably can make it fun again, given that you were able to have fun with it previously. But it probably will have to be done in your spare time after job.
Exactly. AI makes everything less fun because it turns what was once fun into an industry by its design.
Not sure about that, I've had great fun vibe coding like another commenter said, as I can simply write what I want in English and see a result immediately. Of course, I'd never use this for production, but for prototyping, it's nice. This is the opposite of industry, as you state.
I'm not talking about short-term gains like you having fun, but long-term effects on the industry of programming. Of course technology always provides some short-term fun in terms of elevating activity to higher industry levels in the long run.
At the end of the day, the people who put in the effort get ahead. I don't worry about the short or long term at all, as long as one is competent. If fewer are competent due to vibe coding their entire career, all the better for me as a competent professional, as with lower supply comes higher demand.