

Am I Too Old To Be A Programmer? - nickb
http://thecodist.com/fiche/thecodist/article/am-i-too-old-to-be-a-programmer

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brlewis
Could someone go in the next room and have pg put down that book and cup of
tea? His robot was supposed to have posted hours ago about how startups are
the answer to the problem of having to prove your worth to unreasonable
people.

~~~
dpapathanasiou
And yet, this is someone who's gone the startup route
([http://thecodist.com/fiche/thecodist/article/my-own-
successf...](http://thecodist.com/fiche/thecodist/article/my-own-successful-
startup-story--in-1984)).

Is this what Graham would look like if Yahoo hadn't bought Viaweb?

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ivankirigin
It works the other way around. Older people stop learning new things and their
brains correspondingly lack freshness. With dedication, there is no age limit
on an activity. Every field is learned by doing.

You probably won't be a luminary in the field, but that isn't the question.

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staunch
People look at someone applying for a position like this as a big red flag. I
think it's that simple. As others have pointed out hiring is typically a
"lemon market". Unless the hiring manager is really good it makes some sense
for them to move on to the next candidate.

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Tichy
Salary expectations? Willingness to work overtime?

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edw519
OK, I'm going to tell you what's going on and a lot of people may not like it
because I will be talking about the elephant in the middle of the living room.
It's about the money. Entire institutions of total B.S. are built simply to
make "those who do not know what they are doing appear as if they do". Plug in
whatever B.S. you want: extreme programming, UML, Rational Rose, agile
programming (whatever that means?!?), and most importantly, object
orientation. Real pros don't use these unless they are forced. Many of us have
been "agile" for 20 or 30 years before some idiot MBA came up with the term.
Institutions would rather implement some of this B.S. and plug in lower paid
(and usually younger) programmers. And services firms MUST do this or perish.
Why pay you $100K when they could plug in 2 $50K newbies and bill them out at
$150 per hour? In IT you don't have to be good; you just have to stay one step
ahead of the user. And who couldn't do that?

My suggestion: find someone smart (they ARE out there, but not always easy to
find) who understands the value of a professional who can "hit the high
notes". Go to work for them. You'll both be a lot happier in the long run.

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eli
short answer: no

