4 ms·

Goals! As a mere 49-year-old who learned to code 38 years ago and only has 15 years' professional experience, it pisses me off to hear people whining about agei

Goals! As a mere 49-year-old who learned to code 38 years ago and only has 15 years' professional experience, it pisses me off to hear people whining about ageism in tech; I'm sure certain sectors of the hotshot startup world are biased towards "bright young things" but as far as I can tell there are many orgs that have a place for grizzled greybeards and I certainly don't plan to ever retire. What would I do? I'm still amazed every day that they pay me good money for doing the thing that has been my hobby since age 11, and even if I didn't need the money I'm sure it would continue to be one of my favourite hobbies that I would do just for fun.

codethief 6y ago
Could elaborate a bit on what got you into the IT industry at age 34 and what you were doing before that? How easy/difficult was it for you to find a good, well-paying job and build a career? > I'm sure certain sectors of the hotshot startup world are biased towards "bright young things" but as far as I can tell there are many orgs that have a place for grizzled greybeards What kind of organizations are you referring to? / How would one go about finding organizations like these? The reason I'm asking is that I'm in my late twenties and considering doing a PhD in mathematical physics before leaving academia for good and entering the IT industry. Like you, I started programming in my early teens and while I kept coding as a hobby and also worked as a part-time software engineer for a startup for ~1½ years, I obviously have much less professional experience under my belt than those "bright young minds" who enter the industry in their early twenties. So I'm somewhat afraid that it'll be even harder for me to enter the industry when I'm in my early/mid thirties than it is right now.

4 ms·

Goals! As a mere 49-year-old who learned to code 38 years ago and only has 15 years' professional experience, it pisses me off to hear people whining about agei

by FearNotDaniel 6y ago

codethief 6y ago
Could elaborate a bit on what got you into the IT industry at age 34 and what you were doing before that? How easy/difficult was it for you to find a good, well-paying job and build a career? > I'm sure certain sectors of the hotshot startup world are biased towards "bright young things" but as far as I can tell there are many orgs that have a place for grizzled greybeards What kind of organizations are you referring to? / How would one go about finding organizations like these? The reason I'm asking is that I'm in my late twenties and considering doing a PhD in mathematical physics before leaving academia for good and entering the IT industry. Like you, I started programming in my early teens and while I kept coding as a hobby and also worked as a part-time software engineer for a startup for ~1½ years, I obviously have much less professional experience under my belt than those "bright young minds" who enter the industry in their early twenties. So I'm somewhat afraid that it'll be even harder for me to enter the industry when I'm in my early/mid thirties than it is right now.