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>> Your average working programmer isn't retiring at 50, and your brain works just fine at that age I'm 50 and my brain does not work fine at this age. >> the

>> Your average working programmer isn't retiring at 50, and your brain works just fine at that age I'm 50 and my brain does not work fine at this age. >> they're gonna work till retirement like everyone else 50 is retirement. I'm still writing code, but no. I'm ready to retire, this is a victory lap. This is why you save money if you're a coder. You won't listen to me if you're a young me, but I'm telling you, young me, save your money. This is the old you talking directly to the young you. But you won't listen. Barrin92 might still be able to hit it out of the park at age 50, I can't. I'm hanging on.

sixQuarks 4y ago
I think it just depends on the person. I just LEARNED how to code a year ago, and I’m 46. I’m looking forward to many years of coding, I find it to be enjoyable and challenging. One big thing though, I only code for fun and only on my own projects. I could see how coding for a big company would not motivate me at this age.
cutler 4y ago
Speak for yourself, mate. I'm 62 and just getting going after 22 years of programming. Now learning Kotlin, Swift and Go while developing my own app for mobile and web. Age is a state of mind so long is you keep minimally physically active. I discovered recently, whilst dieting, that eating once a day improves mental clarity and energy. Try it.
- rufus_foreman 4y ago
  >> Speak for yourself, mate That's exactly who I am speaking for, mate.
  - jefftk 4y ago
    You started this thread by telling the OP that "I have at least twenty more years of this left, and maybe fifty years" was "not the way it works".
MexicanJoe 4y ago
If you don't feel you can program anymore, then you can move into management, UX, or analytics. That's what I plan to do, I'm not 50 yet but I am starting to feel tired of programming, or at least the kind of programming I do at work. I am starting to move into management and focus on people both our developers and our users. Going that route also pays better if that is important to you. So there are many options even at 50 and beyond.
- rufus_foreman 4y ago
  >> If you don't feel you can program anymore, then you can move into management, UX, or analytics I would rather die. I write code for a living. If I can't do that, welfare. Management. UX. As if.
astrange 4y ago
Gotta get into the nootropics and Vyvanse like the kids then. Though I think weightlifting turns out to work better than almost all of them. And checking if you have sleep apnea.
nemo 4y ago
I'm 52 was a professional programmer for 20 years and an SWE 10 of them, up until this year and was glad to get out. Over time I wound up carrying more and more responsibilities, I was a team lead and owned bigger and bigger projects so I was getting tired from the constant pressure which made coding harder. I changed jobs. I'm at Apple doing internal developer support for an internal API. Work's easier, still get a SWE salary, and the new job's actually pretty fun. Worth seeing what kinds of other opportunities are out there, you don't have to be a code-monkey forever.
- rufus_foreman 4y ago
  But that's like the best job available in all of this. Code monkey might be bad, but everything else is worse. I can't think of anything else, maybe there's something, but for a job easily attainable by someone with no connections whatsoever code monkey is pretty damn good. Code monkeying has been very very good to me.
horns4lyfe 4y ago
If your brain doesn’t work fine at 50, you either have a disease or you haven’t taken care of yourself.
- rufus_foreman 4y ago
  Today I learned.
the_gipsy 4y ago
> You won't listen to me if you're a young me, but I'm telling you, young me, save your money. I really don't wanna wait til I'm 50 to start enjoying life. My body will be too tired by then. Anyway, nobody knows if I'll even be able to retire then - what's the next crisis? Maybe my money won't be worth shit, maybe I could own the house by then but no money to stop working... I'm not gambling on my younger years, old man.

sixQuarks 4y ago

I think it just depends on the person. I just LEARNED how to code a year ago, and I’m 46. I’m looking forward to many years of coding, I find it to be enjoyable and challenging. One big thing though, I only code for fun and only on my own projects. I could see how coding for a big company would not motivate me at this age.

cutler 4y ago

Speak for yourself, mate. I'm 62 and just getting going after 22 years of programming. Now learning Kotlin, Swift and Go while developing my own app for mobile and web. Age is a state of mind so long is you keep minimally physically active. I discovered recently, whilst dieting, that eating once a day improves mental clarity and energy. Try it.

rufus_foreman 4y ago
>> Speak for yourself, mate That's exactly who I am speaking for, mate.
- jefftk 4y ago
  You started this thread by telling the OP that "I have at least twenty more years of this left, and maybe fifty years" was "not the way it works".

MexicanJoe 4y ago

If you don't feel you can program anymore, then you can move into management, UX, or analytics. That's what I plan to do, I'm not 50 yet but I am starting to feel tired of programming, or at least the kind of programming I do at work. I am starting to move into management and focus on people both our developers and our users. Going that route also pays better if that is important to you. So there are many options even at 50 and beyond.

rufus_foreman 4y ago
>> If you don't feel you can program anymore, then you can move into management, UX, or analytics I would rather die. I write code for a living. If I can't do that, welfare. Management. UX. As if.

astrange 4y ago

Gotta get into the nootropics and Vyvanse like the kids then. Though I think weightlifting turns out to work better than almost all of them. And checking if you have sleep apnea.

nemo 4y ago

I'm 52 was a professional programmer for 20 years and an SWE 10 of them, up until this year and was glad to get out. Over time I wound up carrying more and more responsibilities, I was a team lead and owned bigger and bigger projects so I was getting tired from the constant pressure which made coding harder. I changed jobs. I'm at Apple doing internal developer support for an internal API. Work's easier, still get a SWE salary, and the new job's actually pretty fun. Worth seeing what kinds of other opportunities are out there, you don't have to be a code-monkey forever.

rufus_foreman 4y ago
But that's like the best job available in all of this. Code monkey might be bad, but everything else is worse. I can't think of anything else, maybe there's something, but for a job easily attainable by someone with no connections whatsoever code monkey is pretty damn good. Code monkeying has been very very good to me.

horns4lyfe 4y ago

If your brain doesn’t work fine at 50, you either have a disease or you haven’t taken care of yourself.

rufus_foreman 4y ago
Today I learned.

the_gipsy 4y ago

> You won't listen to me if you're a young me, but I'm telling you, young me, save your money. I really don't wanna wait til I'm 50 to start enjoying life. My body will be too tired by then. Anyway, nobody knows if I'll even be able to retire then - what's the next crisis? Maybe my money won't be worth shit, maybe I could own the house by then but no money to stop working... I'm not gambling on my younger years, old man.