4 ms·
In my area, 40+ developers basically fall into two groups: - Burnt out developers who still like their job. These people often have a background in some STEM f
by mkl95 5y ago
In my area, 40+ developers basically fall into two groups:
- Burnt out developers who still like their job. These people often have a background in some STEM field, may hold a PhD etc. They can be difficult to work with due to the odd outburst, but their approach to problem solving is pretty constructive.
- Burnt out developers who hate their job. This is the most difficult group of people to work with I've encountered in my career. These people struggle on a daily basis and cannot be properly integrated into a team.
Now, if I became a recruiter, I would be aware that hiring 40+ developers can be a gamble. I know I will probably be one of those guys some day, and I don't see a non trivial approach to solving it. The software industry simply sucks.
- titanomachy 5y agoThe approach to solving it is to get promoted a lot. All of the directors and many of the staff+ engineers at my company are 40+. They are highly respected, receive eye-watering compensation, and if they move more slowly and cautiously than young folks it's chalked up to experience rather than senility.
- streblo 5y agoI've worked with plenty of 40+ developers who aren't burnt out and match neither of these categories
- johnnyanmac 5y agowhy do you assume burnout by default?
- mkl95 5y agoI'm not assuming, I'm just saying a vast majority of 40+ devs in my area fall into those groups. It's a different story at tech hubs where there's actual career growth.
- johnnyanmac 5y agoI see. This conversation tends to be focused around tech hubs, so I figured you were talking about tech hubs by default. Which goes starkly in contrast to my exprience with senior developers. At least in tech hubs, it seems like by the 30's they'd burn out. Those still kicking in their 40's seem to still enjoy their work, IC and mangement alike.
- postalrat 5y agoHow would you characterize 15-25 year old developers?
- mkl95 5y ago15 year olds: they "yeet" and make weird noises when you merge their code. Shouldn't be allowed near the beer fridge. 25 year olds: good at inverting binary trees and writing Javascript.