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I have to agree with the idea of going the "Verification Engineer/SQA" road. In my area in the US, there are two major defense contractors in the area and no shortage of people looking for work: PMs, IT, Software Dev, you name it. What they seem to lack is a number of people lining up to do the verification. So I picked a job working for a "managed engineering services firm" which means contracts from a bunch of companies. In the seven years I've been with them, I've watched devs, IT guys and even managers come and go from both companies and even my own. What I haven't seen is anyone who's actually a good problem solver with a strong broad skill set disappear from my department. We get kinda catered to since people like that are hard to come by. Anyone can be taught to code to requirements, anyone can make a PowerPoint slide with help but it takes a very special mind to not only find issues in the design and code but understand when not to back down on getting those issues fixed. Real problem solvers are there to the end. If you can also train, get software installed, develop solutions and run the group, that also helps. I get decent benefits, fair pay--I'm only about 10% off of where I wanted to be for my age--and regularly changing work so I'm not bored (well, it's managed to tolerable levels). In all, going this road, I make enough money to pay for my house, my car, my kids and be comfortable all with the added bonus of not having to be in before 10am most days.