
Is software development really a dead-end job after 35-40? - programminggeek
http://brianknapp.me/software-development-dead-end-job/
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mark_l_watson
a good quote from the article: "The way to avoid the same fate as the previous
generation’s industrial workers is to continue to learn, grow, and gain skills
that are valuable beyond the very particular skill you have now."

I am in my 60s, and while I still work on interesting projects as they come my
way, the majority of my "tech time" is now spent studying and learning new
things or doing deeper study of older technology. I consider myself to be very
fortunate to have the financial resources and time to do this! I used to use
neural networks in the 1980s for projects for SAIC and DARPA and in the last
few years (like millions of other people) I have become very interested in
deep learning, especially as it applies to natural language processing. This
is a practical thing to study. Less practical: I am taking a deeper dive into
Common Lisp and Scheme (I wrote books on each language for Springer-Verlag
decades ago) studying not just practical applications but also getting deeper
into both languages. This is not so beneficial financially but is a lot of
fun.

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Eridrus
This seems like a very odd answer to the question since the undertone to this
question is whether you will be discriminated against based on your age when
you start becoming visibly old.

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rejschaap
Yeah, he goes off at a tangent. Felt a little click-baity to me, because I was
interested in reading about age discrimination.

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vikingcaffiene
While nothing written here is untrue, isn't its premise kind of self evident?
Whether you're 22 or 52 the key to staying relevant in this line of work is to
never stop growing and learning.

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jmathai
The premise here is that many people (most, even?) are not as interested in
career growth and learning once they hit 50 as they were right out of college.

That fact is what makes many people consider software development a dead-end
job unless you get into management at which point the growing and learning
becomes much more like other professions.

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bdcravens
I just turned 40. Definitely not dead end for me. However:

* I look quite young for my age (most put me closer to 25)

* I work in a small company. I'm an employee, but my role is closer to being entrepreneurial. I have significant flexibility in our stack, tools, etc.

* I have no kids and rent my home.

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makach
I passed 40. I have kids and got a huge mortgage on my home. I used to do
development but somehow I got into doing more architecture and advising.

I miss developing but try to do some on my spare time, but I have to be
careful with IP because of my current contract states that anything I produce
potentially is not owned by me.

My experience working as a developer was that it got exponentially harder when
I got my kids. Kids suck up all your free time and then also a little bit of
your working time. Especially when they are small and need to go to
kindergarten, they need to be picked up early, cared for and have vacations.

Don't get me wrong, I love my kids and how I have changed as a parent - but it
made it much more difficult to compete with developers without kids and
without a partner.

why? imo, when I was without kids and a partner myself I was much more
productive, I worked all the time, always giving 100% and then doing free
overtime just to fix that hard issue that had ready by certain time and date.

It is difficult to compete with someone like that.

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Stranger43
Almost every job becomes a dead end if you don't pursue management by age 40
as there typically isn't anything more senior to aspire to after 10-20 years.

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combatentropy
I wouldn't call it a dead end to be a senior programmer. Even if afterward you
are never promoted, if you are making around $100,000 a year, then many people
would be content with that.

And it's not like going into middle management would bring a higher salary.
And your job security would be worse. Every time there have been mergers or
cuts, the first to be cut is not the specialized technicians but middle
management.

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vikingcaffiene
This. All of this. I will never stop coding if I can help it. Every coder I've
ever met who got promoted to management (not hands on) ended up having a
terrible time finding work after that role ended. No way. Not for me.

That said that's just my experience. Obviously there are no absolutes and
managerial roles are necessary for a medium to large company to function
properly. It's a shame that things are the way they are in that regard.

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gozur88
>Every coder I've ever met who got promoted to management (not hands on) ended
up having a terrible time finding work after that role ended.

Where I work periodically upper management decides there are too many middle
managers and fires a bunch of them. Guys who went into management in their
late 30s and 40s don't have enough experience to stand out as managers and
haven't kept up enough to go back to the technical track. Most of them end up
finding _something_ , but it's usually not ideal (lower pay, longer commute,
longer hours). Some call it quits and retire early.

Every few years someone from the company swings by my cubicle and asks me if
I'd like to be a manager. I don't know whether to be flattered or insulted.
Half those guys are gone by the time the question comes up again.

IMO the only way to do management in the US is to go to a prestigious school
and start along a career path that puts you in the C-suite.

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amunicio
It would be interesting to have some statistical data on this question.

There are plenty of anecdotal information either way: I'm 45 and doing quite
well as a software developer. So, no, not a dead-end job for me. On the other
hand, I see less and less software developers my age or older in my company
and others around.

So while I'm sure you will get a lot of anecdotal data in the comments, it
would be great to get some actual statistically relevant data. Does anyone
know any good source for this type of data?

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segmondy
If you believe it is, then it will be for you.

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gozur88
If people in the position to hire you believe it, then it will be for you no
matter what your thoughts are.

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tmsldd
The day my "job" as a programmer disappear I will take my stuff and expend my
time fishing all day in Alaska... Actuality, I'm looking very much forward to
that.. :)

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dafash
Perhaps the question should be taking more literally. How many burned out
software developers end up committing suicide relative to averages?

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romanovcode
Oh don't over dramatize. Software develops have it way better than 90% of
other people.

If you have burnout maybe you should just switch jobs.

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zepto
Just switch to what?

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throwaway7645
Slightly off topic: I saw an interesting presentation once where the presenter
complained that modern day developers are expected to do open source projects
in their spare time in addition to all the work on the job and ended by saying
construction workers don't have to do open-source jack-hammering. It is a bit
unfair.

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xkcd-sucks
No open source jackhammering, but their wives still expect weekend house
renovation

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rs86
Empty article. Adds nothing to universal happyness

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supernovae
nope..

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ripuarian
Being someone else's employee is a dead-end job after 35-40. It has nothing to
do with software development. The easiest way to counter that, is to at least
engage in subcontracting. But then again, the whole idea of selling your hours
to someone else is in itself a long-term dead-end strategy. Instead, build a
platform and sell something else than your own hours on it. That is what your
employer is doing anyway. So, why not do it yourself too?

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Bombthecat
I have a Co worker over 40 now. Dr and 10 years of project management and
before that programming.

No one wants him anymore. Too old. And he is just slightly over 40.

I doubt it would be different if he would be self employed....

