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Unfortunately, writing programs isn't an occupation for old people. EDIT: To be more precise, I cannot image that I will write a program after my retirement. T

Unfortunately, writing programs isn't an occupation for old people. EDIT: To be more precise, I cannot image that I will write a program after my retirement. To me, writing ephemeral programs is the opposite of the artful activities described in the article.

Spearchucker 12y ago
It is very very much an occupation for anyone who chooses it - including old people. Young people happen to have this illusion it isn't. What better time to start your own software business than when you've retired?
DanBC 12y ago
Surpising to see discrimination expressed so blatantly. Luckily it's illegal in at least US[1], UK[2], etc etc. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_Discrimination_in_Employment_Act_of_1967 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_Discrimination_in_Employmen... [2] http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/private-and-public-sector-guidance/guidance-all/protected-characteristics http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/private-and-public-sector...
- ColinCera 12y ago
  Unluckily those laws are basically unenforceable and age discrimination in software development is rampant.
- ExpiredLink 12y ago
  > Surpising to see discrimination expressed so blatantly. It's not at all 'discrimination'. BTW, I'm not young any more. Programming just isn't worth it.
m0nty 12y ago
> Unfortunately, writing programs isn't an occupation for old people. Why not?
snowwrestler 12y ago
Most art is ephemeral too. And some software is in use for a very long time.
- ExpiredLink 12y ago
  Art is among the least ephemeral on earth. Software written by me will live at most 10 years.
norswap 12y ago
I don't think it's true, but I believe the programs your write for leisure and those you may have to write for work may be quite different. In fact, in some line of software work you rarely have to write whole programs.
dgacmu 12y ago
Programming can be gruntwork. Programming can be highly disciplined engineering. Programming can be math. Programming can be artistic expression. The beauty and curse of working with bits is that they're as flexible as you want them to be. Programming satisfies part of my desire for artistic expression. I don't plan on quitting until I'm dead - I'm more passionate about computing, from high level abstractions and algorithms down to individual lines of code, at 39 than I was at 19 or 29. And I know a lot of people older than I who are way better than I am, and just as gung-ho as they were 20 or 30 years ago.

Spearchucker 12y ago

It is very very much an occupation for anyone who chooses it - including old people. Young people happen to have this illusion it isn't. What better time to start your own software business than when you've retired?

DanBC 12y ago

Surpising to see discrimination expressed so blatantly. Luckily it's illegal in at least US[1], UK[2], etc etc. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_Discrimination_in_Employment_Act_of_1967 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_Discrimination_in_Employmen... [2] http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/private-and-public-sector-guidance/guidance-all/protected-characteristics http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/private-and-public-sector...

ColinCera 12y ago
Unluckily those laws are basically unenforceable and age discrimination in software development is rampant.
ExpiredLink 12y ago
> Surpising to see discrimination expressed so blatantly. It's not at all 'discrimination'. BTW, I'm not young any more. Programming just isn't worth it.

m0nty 12y ago

> Unfortunately, writing programs isn't an occupation for old people. Why not?

snowwrestler 12y ago

Most art is ephemeral too. And some software is in use for a very long time.

ExpiredLink 12y ago
Art is among the least ephemeral on earth. Software written by me will live at most 10 years.

norswap 12y ago

I don't think it's true, but I believe the programs your write for leisure and those you may have to write for work may be quite different. In fact, in some line of software work you rarely have to write whole programs.

dgacmu 12y ago

Programming can be gruntwork. Programming can be highly disciplined engineering. Programming can be math. Programming can be artistic expression. The beauty and curse of working with bits is that they're as flexible as you want them to be. Programming satisfies part of my desire for artistic expression. I don't plan on quitting until I'm dead - I'm more passionate about computing, from high level abstractions and algorithms down to individual lines of code, at 39 than I was at 19 or 29. And I know a lot of people older than I who are way better than I am, and just as gung-ho as they were 20 or 30 years ago.