Are there any industries in test automation that are comparable in complexity and number of interesting tasks with software development?

Question

Software testing

I’ll open my question a little: at the moment I’ve been automating web application testing for half a year, I use Selenium WebDriver + unittest in my work, I write in Python 3.
I don’t experience any difficulties at all, I don’t see any challenges for myself, mainly the task my scripts is to fill out web forms and then check that the entered information is saved and displayed in the right places in the application.
I am terribly short of complex and interesting tasks, every day I do the same job: I describe Page Objects, create simple tests based on them.
I'm currently developing a small web application in Flask and I think software development is exactly the area where I can find a huge amount of complex and interesting work, however, senior developers from my company say that there is a huge amount of work in back-end development. the amount of routine and boring tasks, and if I try, I can find a lot of interesting things for myself in test automation. Is it so? And where can I look for these interesting and complex tasks in the realities of my project (a regular website, something like a specialized marketplace)? :)
Sorry if the question seems a bit naive. The fact is that in the near future I have good chances to move to junior backend developers. At the moment, my experience in the field of testing is approaching three years (about two years in manual + half a year in automation). If I switch to development, I will lose a lot in salary, and it will take the same 1.5 - 2 years to reach the current level.
Should I quit autotesting and go to the developers, or should I just change the project?
Is there anything in automation that is comparable in complexity to the work of a software developer, where I will need to apply knowledge of algorithms, data structures, various design patterns, and in general, where I will need a deep knowledge of my programming language and libraries?

Answer 1

For me, it doesn’t matter what kind of profession - it’s cool to grow in a skill, but it leads to the same type of routine - grow in breadth (and I’m not talking about the shape of a ball). Changing professions is normal, even changing jobs is normal. The most important thing is that two things come together: you were interested, and the employer was satisfied with your skills

Answer 2

Something I work as an automator and do not complain about boring tasks. The implementation of a normal life cycle and the introduction of smart shit, this is another task.
In your case, either the office / position is bullshit, or you write some kind of unstable garbage that you constantly need to maintain (you yourself said that you write selectors every day).
About your real question:

• If you want to develop - go.
  
• Will you lose in zp? Yes, you will lose.