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I'll have to defer to your knowledge of the market for self-taught cryptologists. My understanding is that most journeyman programmers working in security are i

I'll have to defer to your knowledge of the market for self-taught cryptologists. My understanding is that most journeyman programmers working in security are in Burb Suite Operator positions. My point isn't that becoming a subject matter expert isn't a good way to supercharge your earnings for a few years. I agree with you there. Clearly, a guy with lots of experience with and deep knowledge of the Oracle database could do pretty well for himself 10 years ago. A person with lots of experience with and deep knowledge of OpenStack could do the same five years ago. My point is that it's not a good, safe or stable way to ride out the last half of a 30+ year long career. My further point is that demand for lots of these specialists doesn't appear to be particularly elastic, and therefore "become a subject matter expert" is not a universally applicable bit of career advice for every LOB engineer worried about ageism: if everyone successfully took your advice there would be a whole bunch of unemployed crypto experts.

tptacek 9y ago
I see the miscommunication here. It's not my claim that simply by moving to a specialized subfield of programming that you'll instantly quadruple your salary and future-proof your career. Obviously, you're going to start in some domain speciality as a commoditized practitioner and, with effort, move yourself to more elite ranks of that subfield. My point is that it is better to work on that problem --- of being an elite in a specific domain --- than it is to be an elite at the general problem of building reliable software. (It's "Burp", by the way.)
galfarragem 9y ago
Management is always the safest path.
pdpi 9y ago
> Clearly, a guy with lots of experience with and deep knowledge of the Oracle database could do pretty well for himself 10 years ago A guy with lots of experience and deep knowledge of databases in general, though, would do pretty well for himself both 10 years ago, and today. Even better if he worked on some database himself. Really, that's what owning a domain means: you don't want 10 years of experience as a _user_ of some technology, you want that experience as a _builder_ of said technology.
ScottBurson 9y ago
There's a difference between being an Oracle expert and being a database expert. If all you know is Oracle, yes you have a problem. If you understand database theory and implementation and can apply it to RDBMSs and NoSQL databases of various kinds, you are set for life.
JamesBarney 9y ago
One of the reasons people are switching from Oracle is that the DBA's are so damn expensive.

tptacek 9y ago

I see the miscommunication here. It's not my claim that simply by moving to a specialized subfield of programming that you'll instantly quadruple your salary and future-proof your career. Obviously, you're going to start in some domain speciality as a commoditized practitioner and, with effort, move yourself to more elite ranks of that subfield. My point is that it is better to work on that problem --- of being an elite in a specific domain --- than it is to be an elite at the general problem of building reliable software. (It's "Burp", by the way.)

galfarragem 9y ago

Management is always the safest path.

pdpi 9y ago

> Clearly, a guy with lots of experience with and deep knowledge of the Oracle database could do pretty well for himself 10 years ago A guy with lots of experience and deep knowledge of databases in general, though, would do pretty well for himself both 10 years ago, and today. Even better if he worked on some database himself. Really, that's what owning a domain means: you don't want 10 years of experience as a _user_ of some technology, you want that experience as a _builder_ of said technology.

ScottBurson 9y ago

There's a difference between being an Oracle expert and being a database expert. If all you know is Oracle, yes you have a problem. If you understand database theory and implementation and can apply it to RDBMSs and NoSQL databases of various kinds, you are set for life.

JamesBarney 9y ago

One of the reasons people are switching from Oracle is that the DBA's are so damn expensive.