"12+" is a wider bucket than "9 to 11". The half-life of a software engineer is about 5-6 years. To understand this, keep in mind that most of "software" isn't

"12+" is a wider bucket than "9 to 11". The half-life of a software engineer is about 5-6 years. To understand this, keep in mind that most of "software" isn't working on cutting-edge problems using high-productivity languages. It's Java/C++ legacy maintenance and crufty business logic. A substantial fraction of law and business school students are programmers who landed in enterprise Java jobs and bored out after a few years.