tl;dr/BLUF: 55, recently returned to full time programming, loving it, going to keep at it quite a while.
Longer version....
I was sort of a programmer 30ish years ago (programming was a small but vital part of my job, at best I was OK at it). Moved into management, then, about 20 years ago, cyber security consulting (PIAs, TRAs, governance structures, policies, PKI auditing, some bizdev, some product management, all in the cyber space).
Just over a year ago, I converted back to full time wage slavery, primarily as a programmer, with a few other duties (hey, startup), and this after spending about 6 months mostly programming for the same co as a consultant.
One month it's React and Node and graph DBs (for the compliance product), the other it's shell and C and C++ and SELinux (for the unidirectional gateway), rinse, lather, repeat.
Lots of customer interaction, lots of iterating, no face-to-face or bum-in-seat unless I want to (or it's required for security purposes), lots of learning, lots of interesting problems.
This stuff is great.
Will I be doing this at 60? That will depend on the right balance between three things: My health, status of the profit share, and my ongoing interest. Just having too much fun right now.
Longer version....
I was sort of a programmer 30ish years ago (programming was a small but vital part of my job, at best I was OK at it). Moved into management, then, about 20 years ago, cyber security consulting (PIAs, TRAs, governance structures, policies, PKI auditing, some bizdev, some product management, all in the cyber space).
Just over a year ago, I converted back to full time wage slavery, primarily as a programmer, with a few other duties (hey, startup), and this after spending about 6 months mostly programming for the same co as a consultant.
One month it's React and Node and graph DBs (for the compliance product), the other it's shell and C and C++ and SELinux (for the unidirectional gateway), rinse, lather, repeat.
Lots of customer interaction, lots of iterating, no face-to-face or bum-in-seat unless I want to (or it's required for security purposes), lots of learning, lots of interesting problems.
This stuff is great.
Will I be doing this at 60? That will depend on the right balance between three things: My health, status of the profit share, and my ongoing interest. Just having too much fun right now.