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> ... to coast out the last decade of your career. Here right now the age vibe is coming from ;) It's not like a doctor can coast it out (or maybe I'm also nai

> ... to coast out the last decade of your career. Here right now the age vibe is coming from ;) It's not like a doctor can coast it out (or maybe I'm also naive). (I'm an employer as of now)

ttt3ts 3y ago
I would argue that a coasting grey beard could easily be better than a mid level dev with maybe 5 years experience. I run a contract shop and all my best DB guys are greybeards... coasting. It doesn't matter, after so many years with postgres & MySQL they are amazing.
- andrei_says_ 3y ago
  I take chill in-the-flow steady progress over hyper rah-rah-rah windmill attacks any day, week, and month.
- deepsun 3y ago
  Agree, with DBA or system administration it's possible. Not so with UI/frontend development, for some reason that's always a rush. I would probably differentiate by work visibility: good work in DBA/sysadmin/security/accounting/quality is invisible, you only notice those folks when they have screwed up. With product/UX/new features it's the other way around, coasting is not possible.
  - ttt3ts 3y ago
    > With product/UX/new features it's the other way around, coasting is not possible. That very much depends on the application. I maintain some enterprise solutions for customers. Clients get upset if UI has flow changes. Also, changes don't make me money unless they are required for a new customer. I will do it on request and invoice for the work but no one is interested in change for the most part. I think this is VERY common in enterprise software.
strangattractor 3y ago
Grey beard here. The last interview I had with a company was with the CEO (no beard) that could barely stay awake because he had been up all night (think Sam Altman with scurvy). I seriously doubt he remembered anything about me. That one experience let me know that I would not be doing the "coasting" being referred to in this thread. Instead I would be losing sleep repairing the mistakes from bad decisions and lack of experience which would ultimately lead to a dead startup. Thank you no. There was a time when machismo was my middle name (much younger) and would have seen that as necessary for a successful startup. Now that I have several startups behind me I see it as simply bad management which decreases your chance for success which is stacked against you from the beginning anyway. That was several years ago. I don't think that startup exist any longer.
- aorloff 3y ago
  I have often wondered if any VCs would allow a group of experienced devs to PE zombie startups, roll them up for pennies to see if any have an unexplored nugget of traction
  - hoseja 3y ago
    You'd have to pay the experienced devs in real money.
    - aorloff 3y ago
      Its the equity cramdown on the existing teams that would be harder
simonbarker87 3y ago
I meant nothing negative with my "retire into SQL" comment :-) some of the most fun I've had in my career is picking through a 25 year old SQL database understanding how it all works.

> ... to coast out the last decade of your career. Here right now the age vibe is coming from ;) It's not like a doctor can coast it out (or maybe I'm also naive). (I'm an employer as of now)

ttt3ts 3y ago

I would argue that a coasting grey beard could easily be better than a mid level dev with maybe 5 years experience. I run a contract shop and all my best DB guys are greybeards... coasting. It doesn't matter, after so many years with postgres & MySQL they are amazing.

andrei_says_ 3y ago
I take chill in-the-flow steady progress over hyper rah-rah-rah windmill attacks any day, week, and month.
deepsun 3y ago
Agree, with DBA or system administration it's possible. Not so with UI/frontend development, for some reason that's always a rush. I would probably differentiate by work visibility: good work in DBA/sysadmin/security/accounting/quality is invisible, you only notice those folks when they have screwed up. With product/UX/new features it's the other way around, coasting is not possible.
- ttt3ts 3y ago
  > With product/UX/new features it's the other way around, coasting is not possible. That very much depends on the application. I maintain some enterprise solutions for customers. Clients get upset if UI has flow changes. Also, changes don't make me money unless they are required for a new customer. I will do it on request and invoice for the work but no one is interested in change for the most part. I think this is VERY common in enterprise software.

strangattractor 3y ago

Grey beard here. The last interview I had with a company was with the CEO (no beard) that could barely stay awake because he had been up all night (think Sam Altman with scurvy). I seriously doubt he remembered anything about me. That one experience let me know that I would not be doing the "coasting" being referred to in this thread. Instead I would be losing sleep repairing the mistakes from bad decisions and lack of experience which would ultimately lead to a dead startup. Thank you no. There was a time when machismo was my middle name (much younger) and would have seen that as necessary for a successful startup. Now that I have several startups behind me I see it as simply bad management which decreases your chance for success which is stacked against you from the beginning anyway. That was several years ago. I don't think that startup exist any longer.

aorloff 3y ago
I have often wondered if any VCs would allow a group of experienced devs to PE zombie startups, roll them up for pennies to see if any have an unexplored nugget of traction
- hoseja 3y ago
  You'd have to pay the experienced devs in real money.
  - aorloff 3y ago
    Its the equity cramdown on the existing teams that would be harder

simonbarker87 3y ago

I meant nothing negative with my "retire into SQL" comment :-) some of the most fun I've had in my career is picking through a 25 year old SQL database understanding how it all works.