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IT skills have never had a long shelf life. But this isn’t true, outside of webdev. If your skill was “DB2” or “Oracle” or “Cisco” or “C++” you could have had
by gaius 8y ago
IT skills have never had a long shelf life.
But this isn’t true, outside of webdev.
If your skill was “DB2” or “Oracle” or “Cisco” or “C++” you could have had a 30-40 year career in that, easily. There are plenty of others. Java has been around commercially since about 1995, there will definitely be plenty of Java jobs in 2025.
- catdog 8y agoTrue, but on the other hand those technologies have evolved more or less drastically as well. E.g. the Java or C++ skills from 1995 won't get you that far today, both in terms of the language itself and the framework/library ecosystem.
- mdpopescu 8y agoYep. I've done both FORTRAN and COBOL in the late 80s, and today's versions only have a vague similarity to what I recall.
- gaius 8y agoSure, but it’s a gradual, iterative process, and each new feature you learn builds on what you already know, there’s no sudden cliff of obsolescence. When Oracle 9i came out there was still plenty of work for Oracle 7 and 8i guys and they had time and an easy path to migrate on and a big community to help them. Same with Java. There will be guys retiring in 2035 who have done Java for their entire 40 year careers! Even today a C++98 guy could find work maintaining something while he or she got up to speed, many sites aren’t even fully on C++14 yet and won’t be for a few more years. Whereas in webdev you’re basically starting from scratch every 2 years and competing with new entrants to the market because they literally have as much experience of the hot new framework as you do.
- jimbokun 8y agoThank God! The whole reason I have been working as a programmer for decades is because I always get to learn new things, and never get bored.