Work at a Crossroads

I've been struggling lately about what I'd like to focus on in the coming years. For my entire career of almost 10 years of being a software engineer I've prided myself on my technical abilities. I've focused on knowing as much about computers, software, patterns, frameworks, etc. and being known as a "go-to" guy for advice on how to do things.

I'm at a crossroads as to what I want to do now. The current job I'm at isn't exactly the best place to be for the very technical. In fact, a lot of the best software developers seem to leave rather quickly. So we are always suffering.

The problem is that when the company hires IT employees, they look for highly seasoned, senior developers. When the developers finally start to work, they quickly realize they are doing about 5% software development, 45% business analyst work, and 50% application support (testing hardware/system upgrades, working on problem tickets, etc.).

I really like the company overall because of the all the great benefits it has. So I don't want to leave, but the work I'm doing now is not challenging and in fact very frustrating. So to keep myself challenged, I wonder if maybe moving to a new field would help, but stay at the same company. I don't know if this is a good or bad idea, but it seems like a way for me to not be so frustrated.

If I had my way, I would change the way the IT department is run. To me the kind of people being hired and the kind of work to be done is not compatible. I think a larger support personnel of non-engineers is needed along with a smaller group of true software engineers to create new software and update currently running software. This new group of true software engineers would be managed not my non-technical managers, but engineers who are true leaders. These leaders could ensure top-notch quality software and provide the business with faith in their systems that they depend on.

I'm may be wrong but I don't think so. I'm certain that we have so many improvements to make and in my opinion they are not happening fast enough. I'm sure I'll have more to share as my career goes on at my work place.