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I started programming when I was 11. Taught myself C++ from that age. Solved tons of tough problems in personal and school projects before going into industry a

I started programming when I was 11. Taught myself C++ from that age. Solved tons of tough problems in personal and school projects before going into industry at age 22. Now at 35, I definitely think it's time to move on. I won't lie about my lack of interest in the field. The problems are less difficult to solve, but also much more frustrating. A lot more black boxes that you can't reverse engineer when you get stuck. Working with other people in a big company means things move far slower than my ability to get things done. Plus the proliferation of different tech stacks means that despite the big job market, most of the new jobs require specific knowledge that I don't have, and my existing experience with low level coding and problem solving don't carry much weight.

randomidiot666 7y ago
> Plus the proliferation of different tech stacks means that despite the big job market, most of the new jobs require specific knowledge that I don't have, and my existing experience with low level coding and problem solving don't carry much weight. None of those jobs _require_ specific knowledge upfront. The problem is clueless fuckwits in HR filtering out CVs based on keywords. General problem solving ability and knowledge of fundamentals means you can actually learn any of the latest shitty frameworks in a few hours on the job.
CheesecakeFred 7y ago
>The problems are less difficult to solve, but also much more frustrating. A lot more black boxes that you can't reverse engineer when you get stuck. Working with other people in a big company means things move far slower than my ability to get things done. The part about black boxes you get stuck on strongly resonates with me. Programming can be a lot of fun, when you can rely on your own, or well documented programming. But enter the world of development in big companies where everything specification never leaves alpha phase, is done in retrospect, only on request, 3 month later then needed and if missing half of the absolutely needed information is the best case, it's just so miserable.

randomidiot666 7y ago

> Plus the proliferation of different tech stacks means that despite the big job market, most of the new jobs require specific knowledge that I don't have, and my existing experience with low level coding and problem solving don't carry much weight. None of those jobs _require_ specific knowledge upfront. The problem is clueless fuckwits in HR filtering out CVs based on keywords. General problem solving ability and knowledge of fundamentals means you can actually learn any of the latest shitty frameworks in a few hours on the job.

CheesecakeFred 7y ago

>The problems are less difficult to solve, but also much more frustrating. A lot more black boxes that you can't reverse engineer when you get stuck. Working with other people in a big company means things move far slower than my ability to get things done. The part about black boxes you get stuck on strongly resonates with me. Programming can be a lot of fun, when you can rely on your own, or well documented programming. But enter the world of development in big companies where everything specification never leaves alpha phase, is done in retrospect, only on request, 3 month later then needed and if missing half of the absolutely needed information is the best case, it's just so miserable.