8 ms·

Why are you not yet retired? I can think of few strong reasons, but I would love to hear from you. (I started programming at 8, I’m 41 and I have no plans of st

Why are you not yet retired? I can think of few strong reasons, but I would love to hear from you. (I started programming at 8, I’m 41 and I have no plans of stopping )

pxsant 6y ago
Not retired because I don't want to live on social security alone. That would be a bummer.
- vecinu 6y ago
  What about retirement savings? If you had funded your 401(k) and IRAs with an engineer's salary for this many years you should have many millions to live off of.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - sah2ed 6y ago
    > What about retirement savings? If you had funded your 401(k) and IRAs with an engineer's salary for this many years you should have many millions to live off of. Retiring to millions may be true in theory for certain programmers, but certainly not true for all programmers. Reality is often different for everyone. As the African proverb says: “all fingers are not equal” meaning the outcome of a specific situation can differ across people. For instance, what if s/he had a financially draining medical emergency, forcing them to rejoin the workforce?
  - eternalny1 6y ago
    Many people suffer various setbacks in life ... take medical bankruptcy for example. You never know how it will turn out.
  - itsoktocry 6y ago
    >If you had funded your 401(k) and IRAs with an engineer's salary for this many years you should have many millions to live off of. And then what? Believe it or not, some people consider programming a blessing and fun. If it keeps you engaged, why not continue to get paid for it?
  - bregma 6y ago
    Yes. imagine if you retired you could turn to programming full time just for fun!
    - Polylactic_acid 6y ago
      Thats my goal. All of the programming I enjoy doing has no clear way to monetize. I'd love to spend months reverse engineering proprietary electronics and writing open source code / datasheets for them.
  - the_arun 6y ago
    End of the day, passion & some objective in life - is more valuable than few dollars we earn. This is more useful in old age than ever.
paulcole 6y ago
It’s like in Shawshank. First you can’t stand the bars, then you get used to them, then you can’t live without them. After 50+ years of structured work people forget how to be in charge of themselves.
- codegeek 6y ago
  The word is "institutionalized" as Morgan Freeman put it in the movie.
- Mary-Jane 6y ago
  Or, more optimistically, if you love what you do you'll never work a day in your life. I love programming too and have no plans on stopping either. And there's nothing wrong with that.
  - paulcole 6y ago
    Programming is the thing you love the most and if it was 100% up to you what to do with your time you’d still do it? I mean I don’t hate my job but damn I’d just sit in front of the TV and go for walks if that was an option.
    - yters 6y ago
      I spend most of my free time programming for fun. It is not unheard of.
      - EdwardWarren 6y ago
        I'm 78. I do the same. I select problems from Codeforces or Codewars and work on those. I did enter contests for awhile but needed more experience to successfully compete. I learned python a few years ago and have experience with several other languages as well. Python is perfect for someone like myself. To me it is a thing of beauty. I read a lot - history and biography mainly. Favorites: The Fatal Shore and Empire of the Autumn Moon. Travel 2-3 times a year. Been to Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, South America as well as all over North America. Favorite place? Singapore. Walk 2 miles+ a day. Am a top backgammon player on ZooEscape. Been married 51 years today and been blessed with 3 great kids. Not rich but comfortable. Always been a saver or what my sister calls a cheapskate. Am definitely slowing down. Am more cranky. And think the world is going crazy. Other than that life is better than I expected it would be at this age.
downerending 6y ago
Not quite as old, and but started at tech around the same age. At its core, I still love doing it, even though employers start seriously frowning on hand-on work when you're in your 50s/60s. Not everything is great: the procession of silly methodologies, the endless train of obviously doomed technologies, and the recent obsession with social justice appearances. But the core of tech is still ripping good fun.
- garraeth 6y ago
  I'm also getting on (started programming as a kid early 80's on Atari 600) and agree with what you said - it really resonated with me and what I've seen over the years. Sometimes too, I see comments from people frustrated with having to "work so hard". I'm sorry they have that burden, but for me, programming is not a negative in my life -- even though often times I do it many hours more than is actually asked of me. Sure it's got it's boring/frustrating times, alternatively it can be very difficult, rigorous, and taxing, but I doubt I'll ever completely put it down.

Why are you not yet retired? I can think of few strong reasons, but I would love to hear from you. (I started programming at 8, I’m 41 and I have no plans of stopping )

pxsant 6y ago

Not retired because I don't want to live on social security alone. That would be a bummer.

vecinu 6y ago
What about retirement savings? If you had funded your 401(k) and IRAs with an engineer's salary for this many years you should have many millions to live off of.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- sah2ed 6y ago
  > What about retirement savings? If you had funded your 401(k) and IRAs with an engineer's salary for this many years you should have many millions to live off of. Retiring to millions may be true in theory for certain programmers, but certainly not true for all programmers. Reality is often different for everyone. As the African proverb says: “all fingers are not equal” meaning the outcome of a specific situation can differ across people. For instance, what if s/he had a financially draining medical emergency, forcing them to rejoin the workforce?
- eternalny1 6y ago
  Many people suffer various setbacks in life ... take medical bankruptcy for example. You never know how it will turn out.
- itsoktocry 6y ago
  >If you had funded your 401(k) and IRAs with an engineer's salary for this many years you should have many millions to live off of. And then what? Believe it or not, some people consider programming a blessing and fun. If it keeps you engaged, why not continue to get paid for it?
- bregma 6y ago
  Yes. imagine if you retired you could turn to programming full time just for fun!
  - Polylactic_acid 6y ago
    Thats my goal. All of the programming I enjoy doing has no clear way to monetize. I'd love to spend months reverse engineering proprietary electronics and writing open source code / datasheets for them.
- the_arun 6y ago
  End of the day, passion & some objective in life - is more valuable than few dollars we earn. This is more useful in old age than ever.

paulcole 6y ago

It’s like in Shawshank. First you can’t stand the bars, then you get used to them, then you can’t live without them. After 50+ years of structured work people forget how to be in charge of themselves.

codegeek 6y ago
The word is "institutionalized" as Morgan Freeman put it in the movie.
Mary-Jane 6y ago
Or, more optimistically, if you love what you do you'll never work a day in your life. I love programming too and have no plans on stopping either. And there's nothing wrong with that.
- paulcole 6y ago
  Programming is the thing you love the most and if it was 100% up to you what to do with your time you’d still do it? I mean I don’t hate my job but damn I’d just sit in front of the TV and go for walks if that was an option.
  - yters 6y ago
    I spend most of my free time programming for fun. It is not unheard of.
    - EdwardWarren 6y ago
      I'm 78. I do the same. I select problems from Codeforces or Codewars and work on those. I did enter contests for awhile but needed more experience to successfully compete. I learned python a few years ago and have experience with several other languages as well. Python is perfect for someone like myself. To me it is a thing of beauty. I read a lot - history and biography mainly. Favorites: The Fatal Shore and Empire of the Autumn Moon. Travel 2-3 times a year. Been to Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, South America as well as all over North America. Favorite place? Singapore. Walk 2 miles+ a day. Am a top backgammon player on ZooEscape. Been married 51 years today and been blessed with 3 great kids. Not rich but comfortable. Always been a saver or what my sister calls a cheapskate. Am definitely slowing down. Am more cranky. And think the world is going crazy. Other than that life is better than I expected it would be at this age.

downerending 6y ago

Not quite as old, and but started at tech around the same age. At its core, I still love doing it, even though employers start seriously frowning on hand-on work when you're in your 50s/60s. Not everything is great: the procession of silly methodologies, the endless train of obviously doomed technologies, and the recent obsession with social justice appearances. But the core of tech is still ripping good fun.

garraeth 6y ago
I'm also getting on (started programming as a kid early 80's on Atari 600) and agree with what you said - it really resonated with me and what I've seen over the years. Sometimes too, I see comments from people frustrated with having to "work so hard". I'm sorry they have that burden, but for me, programming is not a negative in my life -- even though often times I do it many hours more than is actually asked of me. Sure it's got it's boring/frustrating times, alternatively it can be very difficult, rigorous, and taxing, but I doubt I'll ever completely put it down.