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The $64,000 question is "Does the experience and skills that you have as a 40+ year old make you worth hiring versus a junior developer or fresh graduate?" Unh
by ThrowawayR2 7y ago
The $64,000 question is "Does the experience and skills that you have as a 40+ year old make you worth hiring versus a junior developer or fresh graduate?" Unhappily for a number of people, the answer is "not really".
This is not a profession in which one can coast. Every year in which you're not learning something that makes you a better and more capable professional, whether at your job or on your own time, is one year in which you're falling behind the rest of the pack.
- twic 7y agoI think software has a bit of an "up or out" mechanism built in. If you're 40 and a seasoned team lead, effective manager, unflappable consultant, wizardly engineer, or irreplaceable specialist, then you're fine. If you're 40 and just another serving of cannon fodder, you probably aren't. I know plenty of people well over 40 who are going great guns in the software industry, in leadership or consulting roles. I also have one former colleague who, sadly, isn't - he was a senior developer at a company for several years, but got laid off; he's experienced, but not as quick as he once was, and doesn't have any particular special roles on his CV, so couldn't immediately bounce into another job. I turn 40 next year, and can't honestly put myself into any of the categories i list above, so i should probably start worrying about this myself!
- mikeash 7y agoIt seems to me that older developers tend to fall into two groups. One group goes, “the old ways were better, this new stuff is crap, I can’t believe they make us use it.” The other group goes, “there’s a lot of good stuff in the old ways, here’s how we can use that experience to our advantage now.” The latter has a much better time.