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If you've been doing this for 36 years, you're probably not too far from retirement. So if this is the last gig before you retire, what do you care if it's a c

If you've been doing this for 36 years, you're probably not too far from retirement. So if this is the last gig before you retire, what do you care if it's a career dead end? But even if it's not your last gig... I think it's going to take three or four years for AI to become something stable. (Right now it's supposed to write all the code; I'm not sure that that's the actual end state, but we'll see.) But if you can skip all the crazy and come back after it's resolved, that's not a bad move either. (Can you come back after it's all resolved? You won't know AI. Still, I think that 36 years of experience will be worth something, even then. And you can train someone with 36 years how to use AI easier than you can train someone who knows AI on 36 years of experience.)

codingdave 6mo ago
> Can you come back after it's all resolved? You won't know AI. In 3-4 years, nothing anyone is doing today will matter. It is rapidly evolving, and I'd rather sit back, do what I know, and let it all fall out one way or other other, then learn what I need to if I haven't retired by then. For younger people, being on the bleeding edge of new things matters, but it really doesn't for us old folk. We know how to learn. We'll learn it when it matters. So long as we have work until then, I am not going to waste my energy re-skilling every 6 months to use a tech that is nowhere near stable with an entirely unclear future.
- smackeyacky 6mo ago
  Exactly. I really think a place to sit this out for a while would be a good idea for me. Ironically part of my job is getting reluctant developers onboard with GitHub copilot but it’s a dance I’d rather watch from the sidelines for a bit
smackeyacky 6mo ago
I’ll acknowledge there’s a real risk that taking this u turn will be a career killer but it’s one I’m willing to take
- toast0 6mo ago
  If I were in your shoes, I'd do projections for retiring today, +1 year, +2 years, +5 years, +10 years, etc. Maybe a few more intermediate values. Then you'll have a better idea of how managable it would be if your career was killed, and how much you need to worry about it. But given they're offering an increase in pay, and training, chances are the need is real and may last longer than you're willing to do it. Also, after you've migrated the system, you'll have useful knowledge for that company, in that you probably deeply understand their business logic. And you'll gave useful knowledge for other companies, in that they want to leave VMS behind too.

codingdave 6mo ago

> Can you come back after it's all resolved? You won't know AI. In 3-4 years, nothing anyone is doing today will matter. It is rapidly evolving, and I'd rather sit back, do what I know, and let it all fall out one way or other other, then learn what I need to if I haven't retired by then. For younger people, being on the bleeding edge of new things matters, but it really doesn't for us old folk. We know how to learn. We'll learn it when it matters. So long as we have work until then, I am not going to waste my energy re-skilling every 6 months to use a tech that is nowhere near stable with an entirely unclear future.

smackeyacky 6mo ago
Exactly. I really think a place to sit this out for a while would be a good idea for me. Ironically part of my job is getting reluctant developers onboard with GitHub copilot but it’s a dance I’d rather watch from the sidelines for a bit

smackeyacky 6mo ago

I’ll acknowledge there’s a real risk that taking this u turn will be a career killer but it’s one I’m willing to take

toast0 6mo ago
If I were in your shoes, I'd do projections for retiring today, +1 year, +2 years, +5 years, +10 years, etc. Maybe a few more intermediate values. Then you'll have a better idea of how managable it would be if your career was killed, and how much you need to worry about it. But given they're offering an increase in pay, and training, chances are the need is real and may last longer than you're willing to do it. Also, after you've migrated the system, you'll have useful knowledge for that company, in that you probably deeply understand their business logic. And you'll gave useful knowledge for other companies, in that they want to leave VMS behind too.