Yepppppp. There's life (and creative fulfillment) outside of selling people shit they don't need.

...and sometimes even the opportunity to get involved with fairly cutting edge tech. Not to mention the fact that anything we build needs to be resilient (physically!) and last for years rather than days.

It's not "cool" - but I moved sideways to museums/heritage/culture a few years ago. Some projects really scratch that itch you're talking about: social/cultural good, education, accessibility...