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This resonates profoundly. But I'll tell you who I REALLY feel sorry for. I feel sorry for today's 20- and 30-somethings who will likely never know the $1000-

by stblack 12y ago

This resonates profoundly. But I'll tell you who I REALLY feel sorry for. I feel sorry for today's 20- and 30-somethings who will likely never know the $1000-$2000 days many of us knew in the 80's, 90's and 00's. Back in the days when FedExing diskettes across the planet was a normal thing. Take today's 20 and 30-somethings and project forward 20-years, I wouldn't want to trade positions.

CmonDev 12y ago
I would trade a position with a 20-year old. They have a bigger chance of becoming immortal.
mathattack 12y ago
Much easier to learn to program and do bigger things today. Professional life (and life in general) is much better today than 25 years ago. 20 years ago: - It was hard to find books on technical subjects. - Computing time was so scarce you had crazy internal chargeback systems. (Though this is sort of coming full circle with AWS) - You had to worry about every level of the stack to do the simplest things. (Weak abstraction) - No meetups or other technically assisted socializing. - In most cities if you wanted to grab a beer, the cost involved coming home smelling like smoke.
- pmorici 12y ago
  You realize it will be 2015 in two weeks right? 20 years ago it was 1995 computing time wasn't "scarce" the PC had already been around for 10+ years 20 years ago.
  - mathattack 12y ago
    I'm aging myself. Maybe I should say 25. :-) When I was in school, computing time was a pain in the ass. Same with my first job after. I'm not talking run a little Excel, more like "Create the data cube for a company's monthly sales numbers" computing.
wyldfire 12y ago
I'm confused: $1000-2000 days? Are you suggesting that there are "many of you" who pulled down ~250-500k USD per year back in the 80s/90s/00s? Which industry(ies)/career(s) are you referring to?
- davelnewton 12y ago
  It depended... $1k days weren't terribly unusual back then, or now, if you have specific skill sets.
  - bshimmin 12y ago
    Or even if you only happen to have a pretty standard skill-set, but are reasonably good at what you do, good at selling yourself, and happen to be connected with the right sort of people. (Though making $2000 a day might also require being quite hard-working, depending on what you do.)
- trcollinson 12y ago
  Y2K fears, Mainframe to Server migrations, Command Line to Graphical UI, the Internet! Oh man, those were good times. However, to be brutally honest, $1000 a day isn't even close to unobtainable now. Many people in this industry pull down ~$250-500k per year.
lingua_franca 12y ago
wake up, many guys in their 20's make $300k to half million a year at Google/Facebook/Amazon these days...
- angdis 12y ago
  I find that very difficult to believe. Also, what do you mean by "many" ?
  - lingua_franca 12y ago
    https://www.secret.ly/p/cdipjjrrdgfrdgayrhgdfrryly https://www.secret.ly/p/cdipjjrrdgfrdgayrhgdfrryly
- bbcbasic 12y ago
  Bear in mind that "many" is only "tiny fraction" of the "helluva lot" of programmers who don't earn that much.
  - lingua_franca 12y ago
    yeah u r so right but that dude concluded all today's 20 and 30-something...

by stblack 12y ago

CmonDev 12y ago

I would trade a position with a 20-year old. They have a bigger chance of becoming immortal.

mathattack 12y ago

Much easier to learn to program and do bigger things today. Professional life (and life in general) is much better today than 25 years ago. 20 years ago: - It was hard to find books on technical subjects. - Computing time was so scarce you had crazy internal chargeback systems. (Though this is sort of coming full circle with AWS) - You had to worry about every level of the stack to do the simplest things. (Weak abstraction) - No meetups or other technically assisted socializing. - In most cities if you wanted to grab a beer, the cost involved coming home smelling like smoke.

pmorici 12y ago
You realize it will be 2015 in two weeks right? 20 years ago it was 1995 computing time wasn't "scarce" the PC had already been around for 10+ years 20 years ago.
- mathattack 12y ago
  I'm aging myself. Maybe I should say 25. :-) When I was in school, computing time was a pain in the ass. Same with my first job after. I'm not talking run a little Excel, more like "Create the data cube for a company's monthly sales numbers" computing.

wyldfire 12y ago

I'm confused: $1000-2000 days? Are you suggesting that there are "many of you" who pulled down ~250-500k USD per year back in the 80s/90s/00s? Which industry(ies)/career(s) are you referring to?

davelnewton 12y ago
It depended... $1k days weren't terribly unusual back then, or now, if you have specific skill sets.
- bshimmin 12y ago
  Or even if you only happen to have a pretty standard skill-set, but are reasonably good at what you do, good at selling yourself, and happen to be connected with the right sort of people. (Though making $2000 a day might also require being quite hard-working, depending on what you do.)
trcollinson 12y ago
Y2K fears, Mainframe to Server migrations, Command Line to Graphical UI, the Internet! Oh man, those were good times. However, to be brutally honest, $1000 a day isn't even close to unobtainable now. Many people in this industry pull down ~$250-500k per year.

lingua_franca 12y ago

wake up, many guys in their 20's make $300k to half million a year at Google/Facebook/Amazon these days...

angdis 12y ago
I find that very difficult to believe. Also, what do you mean by "many" ?
- lingua_franca 12y ago
  https://www.secret.ly/p/cdipjjrrdgfrdgayrhgdfrryly https://www.secret.ly/p/cdipjjrrdgfrdgayrhgdfrryly
bbcbasic 12y ago
Bear in mind that "many" is only "tiny fraction" of the "helluva lot" of programmers who don't earn that much.
- lingua_franca 12y ago
  yeah u r so right but that dude concluded all today's 20 and 30-something...