5 ms·

20 years in this industry invites people to treat you as a fossil and not even hire. Technology moves too fast, nobody cares what you did in 1995 anywhere near

20 years in this industry invites people to treat you as a fossil and not even hire. Technology moves too fast, nobody cares what you did in 1995 anywhere near as much as what you did in 2013.

WalterSear 12y ago
I'm a somewhat older programmer, and fwiw, I've met as many genuinely unhireable fossils as I've heard this complaint. I've heard it from people who've been programming for 30+ years, whose idea of code versioning is the 'Save As' button. I've heard it from people whose entry to technology development was coding websites in HTML 1.0, who've learned very little else since. Many people, at least from the previous generations of programmers, either don't appreciate or aren't able to manage the lifelong learning required by this profession.
gaius 12y ago
As I said on another thread, 2010's MongoDB is just 1970's MUMPS. Once you have been through a few cycles, you see that actually technology comes round and round again. Centralize, distribute, centralize again, just one repeating pattern. Thick clients, thin clients, thick again. Compile, interpret, compile again. Just the buzzwords and the syntax changes.
- aswanson 12y ago
  All that is probably true, but what we are discussing here is perceived value to an employer. Its rather obvious in software that perceived value does not accrue with experience as it does in fields like law or medicine. Even though data shows doctors get worse over time, a 25 year veteran is held in much higher regard than a 5 year practicioner. In software circles, you are far more likely to be looked at as old and out of date, regardless of the skills you have amassed.
- fennecfoxen 12y ago
  Oh, sure, trends in the libraries come and go, but if you don't think they're only going in circles, you should consider whether you'd rather be programming: a Ruby on Rails web app, or a COBOL-backed green screen application on an IBM AS/400. Myself, I'll take those 45 years of progress, thank you kindly :)
  - gaius 12y ago
    Do you think there is a difference, other than you have a bigger screen to do it on now?

20 years in this industry invites people to treat you as a fossil and not even hire. Technology moves too fast, nobody cares what you did in 1995 anywhere near as much as what you did in 2013.

WalterSear 12y ago

I'm a somewhat older programmer, and fwiw, I've met as many genuinely unhireable fossils as I've heard this complaint. I've heard it from people who've been programming for 30+ years, whose idea of code versioning is the 'Save As' button. I've heard it from people whose entry to technology development was coding websites in HTML 1.0, who've learned very little else since. Many people, at least from the previous generations of programmers, either don't appreciate or aren't able to manage the lifelong learning required by this profession.

gaius 12y ago

As I said on another thread, 2010's MongoDB is just 1970's MUMPS. Once you have been through a few cycles, you see that actually technology comes round and round again. Centralize, distribute, centralize again, just one repeating pattern. Thick clients, thin clients, thick again. Compile, interpret, compile again. Just the buzzwords and the syntax changes.

aswanson 12y ago
All that is probably true, but what we are discussing here is perceived value to an employer. Its rather obvious in software that perceived value does not accrue with experience as it does in fields like law or medicine. Even though data shows doctors get worse over time, a 25 year veteran is held in much higher regard than a 5 year practicioner. In software circles, you are far more likely to be looked at as old and out of date, regardless of the skills you have amassed.
fennecfoxen 12y ago
Oh, sure, trends in the libraries come and go, but if you don't think they're only going in circles, you should consider whether you'd rather be programming: a Ruby on Rails web app, or a COBOL-backed green screen application on an IBM AS/400. Myself, I'll take those 45 years of progress, thank you kindly :)
- gaius 12y ago
  Do you think there is a difference, other than you have a bigger screen to do it on now?