5 ms·
I think 35 is quite young, I wouldn't worry about "aging out" for another decade or three. Make sure to keep up with technologies as part of your day job. It's
by clcaev 5y ago
I think 35 is quite young, I wouldn't worry about "aging out" for another decade or three.
Make sure to keep up with technologies as part of your day job. It's amazing how fast things, even SQL change. You don't need to own it all, just build situational awareness with an occasional deep dive.
Read other people's code. Look for projects that interest you and always be learning from them. Build things. Build your writing and presentation skills. You can always learn by helping to document the projects you use.
Look for industries that fit your interests. Programming is a dual-class: your domain of expertise and your technical chops. As you progress in your career, deliberately choose your domain. Immerse yourself that sub-field, identify high-value problems, and how computing techniques are used to solve them. Your success in later phases of your career is measured by how you are able to help a given community with problems that matter to them.
Critically, seek low stress: it's a long haul. Save. Avoid abusive employers and clients. Keep professional boundaries. Build and maintain a robust circle of friends. Finally, if you have children, focus on them now -- you won't get another chance later.
- giantg2 5y agoI'm in my 30s and think I'm close to aging out
- plank_time 5y agoI’m 50 and I don’t feel like I’m aging out. I’m going to go through a dozen interviews over the next several months so we will see how that turns out though.
- giantg2 5y agoNice. I've been in the industry and in the same company for 9 years. I'm a midlevel dev. They've had me switch stacks 4 times. Every time it becomes much more difficult to learn the new stack. I think part of it is lack of motivation - why try my hardest if the knowledge will be thrown away in a year or two? (And they don't follow their own policies, to my detriment)
- mmmm2 5y agoI used to be more worried about aging out. This was about 10 years ago when I was in my 30's, but my fears haven't been realized so far. It does take a certain amount of agility to keep up with what's popular, but sometimes you get lucky with the skills you pick. Python, for me, has lasted quite a while. I picked that up later in my career after starting out with C and Perl. Perhaps you're just burned out? 9 years at one place could easily leave you in a rut. Or have you looked around to see if there is a company that might inspire you again?
- giantg2 5y agoMy problem is that I believed the company when it told me things. I ended up working on things the company needed which only hurt my career- basically doing the jobs nobody else wanted. They said they don't outsource and that they don't layoff. They do both now. I spent years on FileNet and Neoxam. There's no market for them. I'm about a year into working with AWS stacks, so maybe I can switch when I get more familiar with that. But there aren't many good IT jobs in the area and my wife won't move. Basically, I can't even imagine a future. I can't see myself tolerating this job for 9 more years. I don't see any jobs in the area that I would be interested in, or would pay as much (I support my family).
- tubularhells 5y agoAsk your wife if she wants a miserable or a happy husband. I moved for my wife and I didn't regret it. She is willing to move for me too, if it ever comes to that. But most IT jobs are remote now anyway. Look for those opportunities. Don't be scare.
- giantg2 5y agoI haven't seen very many remote jobs. Are those mostly at the big tech companies? I've spent my career (and other jobs) at non-tech companies.
- 5y ago
- mmmm2 5y agoGood Luck! I'm in my 40's and also going through a number of interviews. It's been a lot of hackerrank/leetcode type stuff mixed with some practical problems and behavioral questions. Also stuff about times I've demonstrated technical leadership...
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]