5 ms·

I’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 6y ago
Nice. 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 6y ago
  I 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 6y ago
    My 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 6y ago
      Ask 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 6y ago
        I 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.
        mmmm2 5y ago
        Tech Companies in general. What I have seen happen in the last year is the following: 1. Covid forced most people to work remotely, at least at tech companies. 2. The world didn't end for those companies, so now many more are amenable to remote workers. 3. Even the ones who aren't happy can't really force everyone to come back to the office, so they're still remote friendly. I don't know how long this situation will last, but for now it's a good time to be a remote worker.
- goodpoint 5y ago
  > why try my hardest if the knowledge will be thrown away in a year or two? This is not a bad attitude. It's perfectly rational not to waste time on the framework or tool of the month. It's the industry's fault for generating endless unnecessary churn. We can fight it by focusing on understanding core principles and concepts (that changed very little since 1970) and ignoring the noise.
mmmm2 6y ago
Good 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...

giantg2 6y ago

Nice. 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 6y ago
I 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 6y ago
  My 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 6y ago
    Ask 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 6y ago
      I 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.
      - mmmm2 5y ago
        Tech Companies in general. What I have seen happen in the last year is the following: 1. Covid forced most people to work remotely, at least at tech companies. 2. The world didn't end for those companies, so now many more are amenable to remote workers. 3. Even the ones who aren't happy can't really force everyone to come back to the office, so they're still remote friendly. I don't know how long this situation will last, but for now it's a good time to be a remote worker.
goodpoint 5y ago
> why try my hardest if the knowledge will be thrown away in a year or two? This is not a bad attitude. It's perfectly rational not to waste time on the framework or tool of the month. It's the industry's fault for generating endless unnecessary churn. We can fight it by focusing on understanding core principles and concepts (that changed very little since 1970) and ignoring the noise.

mmmm2 6y ago

Good 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...