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Thank you for the eloquent comment. I showed up wanting to post something similar, but you did it better than I ever could. Can I ask maybe a personal question

Thank you for the eloquent comment. I showed up wanting to post something similar, but you did it better than I ever could. Can I ask maybe a personal question? Do you worry about becoming obsolete? I’m at the 16 year mark, and I was wondering when’s the appropriate time to panic. You seem to have made it about a decade longer than I have, so I figured I’d ask some tips. The hardest thing about programming now vs then seems to be staying relevant.

oppositelock 4y ago
If you ever stop learning and feel your job is tedious, move on. You are inevitably an expert at something after 16 years, and if that's a relevant technology, you're set. If it's not relevant, find something else. Your engineering experience, even if not too relevant, is valuable because it's also a process, not just an outcome, and experienced people can apply the process of engineering to anything. 25+ years in, though, while I'm still an engineer in the org chart, I'm in charge of mentoring a lot of younger engineers, and my job has turned more into keeping them from making big mistakes and helping them grow as engineers, versus producing code myself. Through them, I can get much more done in aggregate, than if I sat down and did it myself, even though I'm probably faster than any engineer that I mentor. Given what I have done, startups are a great place to learn via trial by fire, while big companies are good places to earn some big bucks while in between cool startup jobs.
- silarsis 4y ago
  Seconding this - in the last ummm... almost 30 years I've been in the industry, the whole industry has only expanded, and you gain value as you gain skills - if you feel like you're not learning or not enjoying or no longer able to find valuable roles as eg. a programmer, branch into infra or security or data tech or any of a bunch of different places that have grown - your expertise in any field inside IT will make you more valuable in others. As an example, I've recently shifted from manager back to hands-on tech, and then from platform work (building tools for devs) to security - and knowing the engineering space makes me more valuable in the security space. I'll do this for a few years, then look for the next interesting jump. Nothing I've learnt is ever wasted - and I started when everything had to be patched to work on linux and sendmail.cf files were state of the art ;) Also, flipping between the big three types of workplace - startup, enterprise, and consulting - adds to your understanding of the world and overall value. When I started out, old engineers weren't a thing - it used to be accepted wisdom that this was a young person's field. That's not true any more, and I doubt it'll ever be - just keep learning, pace yourself (marathon, not sprint), enjoy yourself, and keep expanding your awareness/knowledge.

oppositelock 4y ago

If you ever stop learning and feel your job is tedious, move on. You are inevitably an expert at something after 16 years, and if that's a relevant technology, you're set. If it's not relevant, find something else. Your engineering experience, even if not too relevant, is valuable because it's also a process, not just an outcome, and experienced people can apply the process of engineering to anything. 25+ years in, though, while I'm still an engineer in the org chart, I'm in charge of mentoring a lot of younger engineers, and my job has turned more into keeping them from making big mistakes and helping them grow as engineers, versus producing code myself. Through them, I can get much more done in aggregate, than if I sat down and did it myself, even though I'm probably faster than any engineer that I mentor. Given what I have done, startups are a great place to learn via trial by fire, while big companies are good places to earn some big bucks while in between cool startup jobs.

silarsis 4y ago
Seconding this - in the last ummm... almost 30 years I've been in the industry, the whole industry has only expanded, and you gain value as you gain skills - if you feel like you're not learning or not enjoying or no longer able to find valuable roles as eg. a programmer, branch into infra or security or data tech or any of a bunch of different places that have grown - your expertise in any field inside IT will make you more valuable in others. As an example, I've recently shifted from manager back to hands-on tech, and then from platform work (building tools for devs) to security - and knowing the engineering space makes me more valuable in the security space. I'll do this for a few years, then look for the next interesting jump. Nothing I've learnt is ever wasted - and I started when everything had to be patched to work on linux and sendmail.cf files were state of the art ;) Also, flipping between the big three types of workplace - startup, enterprise, and consulting - adds to your understanding of the world and overall value. When I started out, old engineers weren't a thing - it used to be accepted wisdom that this was a young person's field. That's not true any more, and I doubt it'll ever be - just keep learning, pace yourself (marathon, not sprint), enjoy yourself, and keep expanding your awareness/knowledge.