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I’ve been thinking about that a lot myself for a few years now, since my 16-year-old son is talking about majoring in CS when he gets into college in a couple o

I’ve been thinking about that a lot myself for a few years now, since my 16-year-old son is talking about majoring in CS when he gets into college in a couple of years - he’s even optimizing his high school courses to maximize his chances of getting into a good program in a good school. Having worked as a programmer now for nearly 30 years, I see programming devolving as a career more and more every year: now we have open offices, scrum (i.e. micromanaging project managers), unpaid overtime, constant downward pressure from foreign competition and of course, nothing resembling job security: the older/more experienced you are, the _harder_ it is to find a job, which is apparently unique to programming. On the other hand, I don’t know what else to tell him to do - it doesn’t seem like there’s much else out there.

wonderwonder 7y ago
As blue collar jobs vanish, programming is becoming the new manufacturing. Oftentimes that unfortunately involves a focus less on elegant design and more on a simple closing of x number of tickets. We have developed our own production pipeline where x number of widgets have to be completed each day. With that said, the pay is generally decent but if you have not made it to a Sr. level job by your 40's, it can be tough. Programming also has the unique benefit of allowing you the freedom to build your own business with almost zero capital. Even if that business only earns you $500 a month, nothing is stopping you from building 5 more. Complicating that though is very often its hard to muster energy after working 11 hour days 6 days a week depending on the job.
malvosenior 7y ago
It's pretty much always been that way though. Death March was written 20 years ago: https://www.amazon.com/Death-March-Developers-Surviving-Impossible/dp/0130146595 https://www.amazon.com/Death-March-Developers-Surviving-Impo... I'd say the demand for programmers is higher than ever and pay is definitely higher overall. 20 years ago $150k was a good salary for a programmer, now it's more like $350k.
- heartbreak 7y ago
  > 20 years ago $150k was a good salary for a programmer, now it's more like $350k. That’s $50k and $150k for those of us who don’t live in SV.
- fg6hr 7y ago
  (350/150)^(1/20)=1.04. Slightly better than inflation.
  - ClumsyPilot 7y ago
    Can't upvote this enough. People on HN keep talking about importance of statistics and differential equations, yet can't take account of inflation when talking about salaries from the previous millennium.
    - joelfolksy 7y ago
      https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ - Headline: no.
  - pauljurczak 7y ago
    Well, no! Compound inflation from 1999 to 2019 (20 years) is 1.54, which is much less than 2.33 (350/150).

wonderwonder 7y ago

As blue collar jobs vanish, programming is becoming the new manufacturing. Oftentimes that unfortunately involves a focus less on elegant design and more on a simple closing of x number of tickets. We have developed our own production pipeline where x number of widgets have to be completed each day. With that said, the pay is generally decent but if you have not made it to a Sr. level job by your 40's, it can be tough. Programming also has the unique benefit of allowing you the freedom to build your own business with almost zero capital. Even if that business only earns you $500 a month, nothing is stopping you from building 5 more. Complicating that though is very often its hard to muster energy after working 11 hour days 6 days a week depending on the job.

malvosenior 7y ago

It's pretty much always been that way though. Death March was written 20 years ago: https://www.amazon.com/Death-March-Developers-Surviving-Impossible/dp/0130146595 https://www.amazon.com/Death-March-Developers-Surviving-Impo... I'd say the demand for programmers is higher than ever and pay is definitely higher overall. 20 years ago $150k was a good salary for a programmer, now it's more like $350k.

heartbreak 7y ago
> 20 years ago $150k was a good salary for a programmer, now it's more like $350k. That’s $50k and $150k for those of us who don’t live in SV.
fg6hr 7y ago
(350/150)^(1/20)=1.04. Slightly better than inflation.
- ClumsyPilot 7y ago
  Can't upvote this enough. People on HN keep talking about importance of statistics and differential equations, yet can't take account of inflation when talking about salaries from the previous millennium.
  - joelfolksy 7y ago
    https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ - Headline: no.
- pauljurczak 7y ago
  Well, no! Compound inflation from 1999 to 2019 (20 years) is 1.54, which is much less than 2.33 (350/150).