Option #5 — The retired developer Developers can get jaded. If they are lucky and diligent, they might be able to retire early. After retirement they could con

Option #5 — The retired developer Developers can get jaded. If they are lucky and diligent, they might be able to retire early. After retirement they could continue programming in FOSS or private projects, if they love programming. This way they won't have to mollify annoying managers or customers and work around them. They won't need to participate in office politics, but of course if they work in FOSS projects they will continue to have to cope with politics, just different one. If they don't love programming, they could take up different hobbies or even start something completely different.