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I can imagine. I think you can do both by focusing on one for awhile and then moving back to the other role. In the short term it is a set back but long term

I can imagine. I think you can do both by focusing on one for awhile and then moving back to the other role. In the short term it is a set back but long term you can develop both skills. Meanwhile you can share management responsibilities with others and find out who makes the team gel the most and who are the great coders. Eventually if you can retain all this trained talent I believe you'll have a really strong team. Of course this happens naturally as people are promoted and moved around but I think if we could admit to ourselves that a manager once does not need to be a manager always, we'd all be so much better off.

tluyben2 11y ago
In the Netherlands, where I am from, at least (I think it is less so in the US?), you are a complete failure/loser if you are a coder > 35 y/o (I am 40). You are supposed to be a manager then. My path was different than that but I cannot help thinking this attitude which is pushed in university and by (a lot of) parents influenced some decisions I made. Coders over 45 are considered sad and when you meet them in companies they are usually in the basement and treated like idiots. We were hired to give this mobile app development course to a large company in the Netherlands; it turned out this was just to fill out the training responsibilities the company had with their employees. All of the trainees were over 45, most over 50 and the company didn't care what we did and they would never use it there but apparently their employees expressed interest to learn about app development. Sad.
- studentrob 11y ago
  Yikes that is sad. Hopefully things like open source and github will allow aging developers to show their value. If a business sidelines an employee based on their age then that's the company's loss right? And hopefully the employee can find a smarter employer.
- mdpopescu 11y ago
  43 year old developer here, haven't seen this happen in Ireland.
  - tluyben2 11y ago
    I hope this 'tradition' is ending/will end, but the past 5 years working with medium to large companies in NL showed me it was still alive and kicking.

tluyben2 11y ago

In the Netherlands, where I am from, at least (I think it is less so in the US?), you are a complete failure/loser if you are a coder > 35 y/o (I am 40). You are supposed to be a manager then. My path was different than that but I cannot help thinking this attitude which is pushed in university and by (a lot of) parents influenced some decisions I made. Coders over 45 are considered sad and when you meet them in companies they are usually in the basement and treated like idiots. We were hired to give this mobile app development course to a large company in the Netherlands; it turned out this was just to fill out the training responsibilities the company had with their employees. All of the trainees were over 45, most over 50 and the company didn't care what we did and they would never use it there but apparently their employees expressed interest to learn about app development. Sad.

studentrob 11y ago
Yikes that is sad. Hopefully things like open source and github will allow aging developers to show their value. If a business sidelines an employee based on their age then that's the company's loss right? And hopefully the employee can find a smarter employer.
mdpopescu 11y ago
43 year old developer here, haven't seen this happen in Ireland.
- tluyben2 11y ago
  I hope this 'tradition' is ending/will end, but the past 5 years working with medium to large companies in NL showed me it was still alive and kicking.