

Your professional half-life - chunkyslink
http://13.7billionyearslater.net/2010/08/03/your-professional-half-life/

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c1sc0
I'd say that getting out of web development for a few days, weeks, even months
is not such a big deal. Being a rapid learner is a re-requisite for getting
anywhere in a cutting edge field. So as long as your learning ability follows
a Malthusian growth model you'll be just fine spacing out for a few months.
Heck, you may come back with a different perspective on things.

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helmut_hed
I'd like to believe that's true. How about _perception_ , though? I've taken a
year off now... am wondering how I'll be perceived when I start interviewing
again.

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sjf
Depends where you are interviewing. Established companies don't have such a
fetish for bleeding-edge technology.

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wallflower
The way it was explained to me:

When you are young, you are excited about what is cool/what is interesting/the
latest technology. You usually lack experience.

After several years and/or several projects, you realize it's not about the
technology - every project has the same issues/opportunities. It's all the
same. Some projects may bring something new to learn but, really, unless you
are working for Google or Facebook or a startup, they're all the same.

As you grow older and wiser and start to mentor the young 'uns who are excited
about working on X technology, you realize that you might just not have as
much enthusiasm. At that point, you may transition out to management and/or
starting a family. And the cycle will continue...

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10ren
I've always thought that software is a young man's game, whereas law is an old
man's game.

This is because when new legislation is introduced, the first thing that any
discussion of it does is to consider what the law was 200 years ago. New laws
are mostly tweaks on existing laws (including case law), and will be
interpreted as such by the courts. Even entirely new laws are interpreted in
terms of existing laws. Of course, there are some new laws and new cases to
keep up to date with.

But compare this with programming, where most successful practitioners didn't
have or need any idea of previous languages or approaches. Which is probably
one of the reasons that software is reinvented every decade or so. Law is not.

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olefoo
That may be true of the works of creative genius that exist in isolated
splendor sprung fresh from the brows of handsome and charming engineer-heros,
gifting the world with the product of their talent. But the rest of us have to
read the RFCs and build software that works with other software that is
already out there.

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helveticaman
Looks like half-life is inversely proportional to pay.

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ww520
Sport people have short half-life.

