Ask HN: What is expected of a 20 yr experienced coder at the age of 40+ in IT? - sriram_iyengar
======
Smushman
Answer: Retirement. Kind of kidding - kind of not! Some will be thinking this
though...

Jokes aside - it can be tough. I recommend if you have not already done a
reverse time based analysis, you do so. If you're wondering this at 40, what
about 60? Think about where you want to be and how you will be perceived going
forward, combined. That will help guide some of what you do with an eye
towards your longevity.

Anyway, at 40 there is a high expectation to support and mentor - first and
foremost. Help people see their bugs, secondarily improve their methods, and
thirdly listen to their ideas to help you paint their strategy (rather than
your own interpretations and strategies which may be dated).

Second, younger people may see you as the older guy with the stodgy ideas.
Avoid fighting with them on that front, even though your role may ask for
that. You are in a losing battle often with that up front, unless your upper
management really supports your ideas. And even then be careful to be
respectful - you may change your mind after some research and find you support
their initially backward sounding idea.

I recommend supporting and contributing to your coworkers projects to
highlight your solution methods, and show them you care. You probably have a
lot of good to offer, and this will defray any potential hostility.

------
vinayms
To become a manager, or at least a tech leader with a juicy title like
_Principal Systems Architect_.

I am not sure if you are Indian or person of Indian heritage, and if you are
working in India or abroad, but within Indian context, being a developer at
30+ is not seen favorably. I tried changing jobs at 34 in 2014 with 12 years
experience, and was constantly offered a "leadership" position when all I
wanted was to be a lead developer with freedom, basically same as my last job.
I didn't take any of the offers, also because I wanted to start my own
company. Things didn't workout and now I am looking for a job again, at 38.
This time I have wised up and won't insist on engineering position. I am a
realist, and have made my peace with it. I am preparing myself mentally to do
something that I have always despised - filling excel sheets with colored
cells.

\---

Further, personally, because I will indeed start my company once my financial
condition improves, and I can do all the engineering I ever want with all the
freedom I always wanted, I don't much care for the nature of the task I do as
an employee elsewhere. I have no intentions of making a career working for
someone else.

That said, I have an inkling that I might have it harder this time since I was
unemployed chasing a dream for four years, and I am not sure how Indian
companies (well, Indian outposts of Amerieuro companies) consider it. The weak
link is of course the mind set of Indians who do the interviews, who would be
mostly my age, and I don't know if the hype around startups has made them
"open minded" or created further loathing of people treading that path
because, let's face it, most Indian startups are copycats and hardly
innovative, and its quite challenging to appreciate efforts of people who whip
out yet another clone and pose as if they are innovators of cutting edge
technology, and its quite likely that startup attempters will be prejudged
negatively.

------
thiago_fm
If you have worked for companies which let you develop yourself inside the
company and use new tools, you'll be like a senior developer with life
experience at least. Maybe you will be more relaxed to talk about things and
can definitely mentor people and take more responsability. You don't need to
become a manager, but doing a little bit of architecture and making sure your
workplace is fair and nice can take you a long way. 40 isn't that old. It
depends though, you could make it look old.

Somebody that goes to the gym infrequently and keeps their health above
average will probably still be like their 30's, maybe 25(?)'s.

It is not so bad. I think by 60's it can get nasty, but by them, you will be
stuck with some legacy crap nobody can understand. But there might be 60 year
olds doing frontend in vue, why not. You chose if you want to age.

------
dhnsmakala
I do not know about 40+, but the trend I see in older colleagues is deep
knowledge of the system (they have been working on it for longer), more
participation in planning/meetings, and more guidance of newer team members.
Less so just being assigned tasks and doing them.

------
voycey
Progression?

Seriously though - at 20 years experience you probably have a lot you could
mentor and nurture in other people?

Not everyone can be managers true but where do you see yourself in another 10
years?

Unless you are doing something "old school" like Cobalt, Fortran or something
equally as esoteric by todays standard then do you have the energy to keep
maintaining your skill set with the latest tools?

~~~
DerekQ
A 40 year old developer is as unlikely to have knowledge of Cobol or Fortran
as a recent grad. Those technologies were as old school in 1998 as they are
today.

More likely they started out working in C++, C, Java, etc. Back then more
developers worked on desktop apps than web. C# first came out in 2000 (18
years ago), Python is 28 years old, Ruby 23 years old, so chances are their
knowledge and experience is fairly modern apart from the current trendy web
frameworks.

~~~
voycey
He said 40+ Cobol and Fortran were still kicking 30 years ago - entirely
possible! Many older coders that I know kept their jobs in these languages
when newer languages were taking over - Mainframes were still using them and
the Banking system especially is still archaic!

------
edoceo
Why aren't you a manager yet?

JK

But seriously, as I was getting towards 40 I heard that a lot.

~~~
S4M
Are you a manager now?

~~~
edoceo
CEO of a company I started. Was a CTO at last role to build a company from
zero to $5mm.

I still like to code more than manage.

Trying to hire a COO now, so I can manage less and build more.

------
Down_n_Out
If management roles aren't your thing (yet), why not try to get into an
architecture role? Software Architecture, Solution Architecture, ...

------
roflchoppa
Management or if you want something really interesting work at a machine shop.

------
copperx
To retire.

I'm just slightly kidding.

