4 ms·

That's pretty terrifying. I'm 5 years out of college, mainly "progressed" sideways and realised I'm only 12 years from 40. The previous 5 went so quick. There's

That's pretty terrifying. I'm 5 years out of college, mainly "progressed" sideways and realised I'm only 12 years from 40. The previous 5 went so quick. There's no way I can retire at 40, or 45. Damn.

tluyben2 12y ago
Just make sure you don't become one of those roles then :) Keep learning, show you have a lot to offer, PR/Market yourself, be vocal, get really good at something scarce, be it in tech or management (or...). I can get a job anywhere I would if I wanted, not because i'm so good or to brag (I'm an average programmer for the most part, I just really like it and i'm practical; I get stuff done), but I learned enough on the business side (management as CEO/CTO), tech side, human networking side (I have a lot of contacts who trust me enough to give me a chance when I require it) and marketing side to be perceived as valuable to a lot of medium to large sized companies. Then again; I like working (long hours; I forget time when coding and I don't care about that happening) and I like learning a lot. Anecdotal; I know two engineers, one over 55 and one over 60; the first one is an expert at lower powered embedded hardware & software of the tiny kind (think smart credit cards, complex dime sized sensors); he gets flown in all over the world to help out for insane amounts. Chinese companies hire him to make more robust stuff. The other one is an expert at Fortran/Cobol/mainframe OS crisis management; whenever a bank anywhere has a very serious issue, he gets flown in to fix it. Again at rates high enough to only need one gig per few years.
- mattgreenrocks 12y ago
  Basically: work harder/longer to prove you're younger because youth is the illusion we're all trying to maintain?
dvirsky 12y ago
I'll be 40 next year, and this is indeed scary. I feel like only in the last couple of years I've become good as an engineer, and I'm still learning and evolving. I think I'm considered a high performer where I work. To think that in a couple of years I'll be unemployable makes no sense to me. I'm working hard at not being left behind in terms of new technologies, and doing more managerial/architect style roles in recent years. I think people don't realize how young 40 is today, and more so how quickly it comes around the corner. You're 12 years from 40 and I assure you these 12 years will pass about as quickly as the previous ~5 years. I'm less than 10 years from a 20-something and already an "old guy"! bah.
- malaporte 12y ago
  I don't think age as a numerical thing is the issue here. The problem is probably more related to people that stopped learning / being interested in new stuff when they landed a stable job. So they've been using the same skill base for a long time, and suddenly they realize they are obsolete. Sure they may have grown their skills inside that particular silo, and that is worth something, but maybe outside the whole world has taken a different direction. Never forget that the cool tech you're learning now will be out of fashion in a few years, and completely obsolete a few years more down the road (replace years by months for any JS framework out here :p).
  - conistonwater 12y ago
    Your line of thought relies very strongly on the assumption that the skills of software engineers are tied to the particular language or framework they are using. Surely that's just complete nonsense?
    - minthd 12y ago
      Whether it's true or not, that's how employers choose employees.
    - klibertp 12y ago
      > the skills of software engineers are tied to the particular language or framework they are using Well, not all of them of course, but yes, knowledge of a particular language matters. For example: a) idiomatic code in a given language is easier to maintain, a programmer who doesn't know this language won't write idiomatic code for awhile b) lack of knowledge of available libraries may result in reinventing them poorly, leading to NIH syndrome, which is bad for maintainability... and just bad in general c) std lib of a language is a special case here: without having memorized what it has to offer you're going to work many times slower due to having to google all the time and so on. You can either know a lot of languages and technologies and bet your career on ability to learn new things very quickly, or you can be content with one language and become a master in using it. In the latter case much of your skills do become tied to the language and particular technology, so just be sure to pick one which is not going to stop being popular in a year.
HolyNerd 12y ago
Yes,terrifying~!

tluyben2 12y ago

Just make sure you don't become one of those roles then :) Keep learning, show you have a lot to offer, PR/Market yourself, be vocal, get really good at something scarce, be it in tech or management (or...). I can get a job anywhere I would if I wanted, not because i'm so good or to brag (I'm an average programmer for the most part, I just really like it and i'm practical; I get stuff done), but I learned enough on the business side (management as CEO/CTO), tech side, human networking side (I have a lot of contacts who trust me enough to give me a chance when I require it) and marketing side to be perceived as valuable to a lot of medium to large sized companies. Then again; I like working (long hours; I forget time when coding and I don't care about that happening) and I like learning a lot. Anecdotal; I know two engineers, one over 55 and one over 60; the first one is an expert at lower powered embedded hardware & software of the tiny kind (think smart credit cards, complex dime sized sensors); he gets flown in all over the world to help out for insane amounts. Chinese companies hire him to make more robust stuff. The other one is an expert at Fortran/Cobol/mainframe OS crisis management; whenever a bank anywhere has a very serious issue, he gets flown in to fix it. Again at rates high enough to only need one gig per few years.

mattgreenrocks 12y ago
Basically: work harder/longer to prove you're younger because youth is the illusion we're all trying to maintain?

dvirsky 12y ago

I'll be 40 next year, and this is indeed scary. I feel like only in the last couple of years I've become good as an engineer, and I'm still learning and evolving. I think I'm considered a high performer where I work. To think that in a couple of years I'll be unemployable makes no sense to me. I'm working hard at not being left behind in terms of new technologies, and doing more managerial/architect style roles in recent years. I think people don't realize how young 40 is today, and more so how quickly it comes around the corner. You're 12 years from 40 and I assure you these 12 years will pass about as quickly as the previous ~5 years. I'm less than 10 years from a 20-something and already an "old guy"! bah.

malaporte 12y ago
I don't think age as a numerical thing is the issue here. The problem is probably more related to people that stopped learning / being interested in new stuff when they landed a stable job. So they've been using the same skill base for a long time, and suddenly they realize they are obsolete. Sure they may have grown their skills inside that particular silo, and that is worth something, but maybe outside the whole world has taken a different direction. Never forget that the cool tech you're learning now will be out of fashion in a few years, and completely obsolete a few years more down the road (replace years by months for any JS framework out here :p).
- conistonwater 12y ago
  Your line of thought relies very strongly on the assumption that the skills of software engineers are tied to the particular language or framework they are using. Surely that's just complete nonsense?
  - minthd 12y ago
    Whether it's true or not, that's how employers choose employees.
  - klibertp 12y ago
    > the skills of software engineers are tied to the particular language or framework they are using Well, not all of them of course, but yes, knowledge of a particular language matters. For example: a) idiomatic code in a given language is easier to maintain, a programmer who doesn't know this language won't write idiomatic code for awhile b) lack of knowledge of available libraries may result in reinventing them poorly, leading to NIH syndrome, which is bad for maintainability... and just bad in general c) std lib of a language is a special case here: without having memorized what it has to offer you're going to work many times slower due to having to google all the time and so on. You can either know a lot of languages and technologies and bet your career on ability to learn new things very quickly, or you can be content with one language and become a master in using it. In the latter case much of your skills do become tied to the language and particular technology, so just be sure to pick one which is not going to stop being popular in a year.

HolyNerd 12y ago

Yes,terrifying~!