Experience has value, but it surely tapers off. If someone who is 50 and has 30 years of experience is no better than someone who is 40 with 20 or 35 with 15, w

Experience has value, but it surely tapers off. If someone who is 50 and has 30 years of experience is no better than someone who is 40 with 20 or 35 with 15, why would the 40 or 50 year old expect to make more? That tapering effect surely applies to some extent, if only because beyond a certain point you might keep gaining more breadth of experience but for any given role you’ll only be using some part of that experience. Still, I’d argue that with broader experience often comes deeper understanding as well, and that tends to retain its value no matter what you’re doing. There was a big jump in what I could do straight out of university and what I could do at 25, but there was also a big jump between that and 30, and between that and 40. Importantly, I think, those changes weren’t measured on the same scales. Earlier in my career, I was learning about specific languages or libraries. I was also learning how to operate as a professional and collaborate with others and use tools for things like source control and bug tracking. A few years later, I might still have learnt new languages, but I didn’t really see each programming language so much as a particular programming style with some specific syntax attached, and the interesting parts were often more about the general programming style or any unique features or idioms. Similarly, I didn’t see a library so much as some data processing or a communications channel that the library provided. Today, I mostly just see data and interactions. I’m more aware of qualitative properties of code and systems, like readability and maintainability and testability. I’d say I’m also more aware of the bigger picture than I used to be, of how we write programs to solve some problem that is defined by a business requirement or a personal itch we want to scratch. In another decade or two, I would like to think that my understanding will have continued to develop, but I’ll have to get back to you on that later. :-)