5 ms·

If you haven't gained an edge after working around 20 years in the industry then you might have something to fear. Most 20 somethings know a stack or two but d

If you haven't gained an edge after working around 20 years in the industry then you might have something to fear. Most 20 somethings know a stack or two but don't have any domain knowledge to understand how to make it useful in the "real world". Check out: https://hbr.org/2014/11/the-best-performing-ceos-in-the-world https://hbr.org/2014/11/the-best-performing-ceos-in-the-worl... Over a quarter of the top CEO's in the world have an engineering background and the median age is 59. The world is becoming more and more flat with globalization. If you are limiting yourself to pushing code and not learning business skills you are probably replaceable.

devonkim 10y ago
I think decently smart people are all capable of learning business skills. The problem fundamentally later on is that you need skills and a network that is aligned with your goals for your post-individual contributor career.
- SeeDave 10y ago
  A huge problem that many smart people face (myself included) is dealing with "average" employees. The sort of person who sees software engineering as "just another job" similar to folding T-Shirts at the Gap or flipping burgers at McDonalds. Very, very few people actually care about the influence their work has on customers, investors, vendors, and other employees... so it's a struggle to mentally understand how self-absorbed wage-earners actually think. To the point of feeling like throwing temper tantrums in response to "normal" behavior.
  - Joof 10y ago
    Finding a job where you're a good fit isn't easy either. I'm somewhat temperamental; in a job where I'm uninterested, it's easy to be the worst performer. In an interesting job (for me, these are often what others consider difficult), it's easy to perform several times as well as most others and be the top performer by a wide margin. Admittedly, my ADHD may give me a higher spread than most people, but I imagine it affects everyone to some degree.
  - pm90 10y ago
    I don't understand why you would care about the level of dedication of your co-workers to the job? I know for a fact that many programmers do treat their job as "just another job" and are not as consumed by technology as someone who is more passionate about it. From personal experience, it becomes very clear rather quickly who the top team contributor really is. But having those kinds of expectations from other people is rather toxic. You would either have to change your attitude or your job.
- tracker1 10y ago
  I'm not entirely sure how much that is true... I walked out of a Director position in well under a year simply because it wasn't work that I was the best at... and by that, I mean that I would never be able to handle 2-3x the load of someone else in that position. It was rather constrained. I'm far better off in a senior/lead/architect developer role over being in any form of management. I provide better value in that space. What's disappointing to me is that you pretty much cap out and aren't likely to make more anywhere near in proportion to the value you provide.
vacri 10y ago
Not all of us 40somethings got into tech when we were 20.
serge2k 10y ago
Are you basing it off current age, or age at which they became CEO? Bezos in his 50s, but he started Amazon around 30. Really it should be age at which they started to dictate product direction.

devonkim 10y ago

I think decently smart people are all capable of learning business skills. The problem fundamentally later on is that you need skills and a network that is aligned with your goals for your post-individual contributor career.

SeeDave 10y ago
A huge problem that many smart people face (myself included) is dealing with "average" employees. The sort of person who sees software engineering as "just another job" similar to folding T-Shirts at the Gap or flipping burgers at McDonalds. Very, very few people actually care about the influence their work has on customers, investors, vendors, and other employees... so it's a struggle to mentally understand how self-absorbed wage-earners actually think. To the point of feeling like throwing temper tantrums in response to "normal" behavior.
- Joof 10y ago
  Finding a job where you're a good fit isn't easy either. I'm somewhat temperamental; in a job where I'm uninterested, it's easy to be the worst performer. In an interesting job (for me, these are often what others consider difficult), it's easy to perform several times as well as most others and be the top performer by a wide margin. Admittedly, my ADHD may give me a higher spread than most people, but I imagine it affects everyone to some degree.
- pm90 10y ago
  I don't understand why you would care about the level of dedication of your co-workers to the job? I know for a fact that many programmers do treat their job as "just another job" and are not as consumed by technology as someone who is more passionate about it. From personal experience, it becomes very clear rather quickly who the top team contributor really is. But having those kinds of expectations from other people is rather toxic. You would either have to change your attitude or your job.
tracker1 10y ago
I'm not entirely sure how much that is true... I walked out of a Director position in well under a year simply because it wasn't work that I was the best at... and by that, I mean that I would never be able to handle 2-3x the load of someone else in that position. It was rather constrained. I'm far better off in a senior/lead/architect developer role over being in any form of management. I provide better value in that space. What's disappointing to me is that you pretty much cap out and aren't likely to make more anywhere near in proportion to the value you provide.

vacri 10y ago

Not all of us 40somethings got into tech when we were 20.

serge2k 10y ago

Are you basing it off current age, or age at which they became CEO? Bezos in his 50s, but he started Amazon around 30. Really it should be age at which they started to dictate product direction.