8 ms·

I am 53 and started programming in 1977. I feel EXACTLY the same as you.

blisterpeanuts 11y ago
Me 3! 56, first prog job was in '87. Now I'm steadily employed in a dream job, working from home, writing mobile apps and exploring new "IoT" technologies. If this job ends, which all jobs do sooner or later, I'm hoping to starting my own company, finally, and ride that into retirement. But life continues to be an adventure and you never know what lies around the next bend in the road!!! Best of luck to you and to people of all ages in this amazing field.
- DanielBMarkham 11y ago
  Let's make it an even 4! Just turned 50 yesterday. Wrote my first contract program in 1982 when I was 17. Today I teach teams how to rock-and-roll. I also keep coding, but mostly as a hobby. It has nothing to do with programming -- I simply have too many irons in the fire to do all of the things I love as much as I want to.
  - lisper 11y ago
    I guess I might as well pile on. Turned 50 last year. Got my first paycheck for writing code junior year of high school (writing BASIC code on a Commodore PET!) Working on my fifth startup now.
    - SCHiM 11y ago
      I can't imagine all the technologies and skills you guys have acquired. If I may derail the conversation a little bit, may I ask if/how you use the things you've learned today? I mean, is it things like paradigms that have stuck with you like OOP/functional/w\e, or do you always structure your exception handling in a certain way, no matter the language? Are there skills/technologies you've been using since you've started? For example little scripts of basic that you've never let go off that automate things like setting up build servers and the like?
      - lisper 11y ago
        No more BASIC, but I still code in Common Lisp whenever I can. And I'm using some library code that I wrote when I was in grad school 25 years ago. Once you grok Lisp, everything else is easy. You come to realize that the vast majority of what passes for "new technologies" is really just a re-discovery of something that exists (or is easily implemented) in CL. That makes it a lot easier (if a tad frustrating at times) to keep up. EDIT: CLOS, and generic functions in particular, are a HUGE lever that no other language has co-opted yet.
        typedweb 11y ago
        Same with conditions and restarts.
        ScottBurson 11y ago
        Ha! I'm still using a piece of Lisp library code that I wrote as an undergrad 35 years ago :-)
        munificent 11y ago
        > no other language has co-opted yet. Check out Dylan, Julia, and my old hobby language Magpie[1]. [1]: http://magpie-lang.org/multimethods.html http://magpie-lang.org/multimethods.html
        lisper 11y ago
        I guess I should have said: no other mainstream language.
        PuercoPop 11y ago
        Julia has generic function but they are not defined in Julia itself nor is dispatch mechanism can be extended in Julia itself. CLOS is all about meta-circular semantics so I wouldn't include Julia in there (at least not fully)
        bandrami 11y ago
        You come to realize that the vast majority of what passes for "new technologies" is really just a re-discovery of something that exists (or is easily implemented) in CL So much this. (From a soon-to-be geezer who's staring down 40 soon.)
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - edpichler 11y ago
    I fell as you guys. I am very excited with technology since I started. There is so much new and interesting things to play and read that I have no time to do it all. I can clearly that each year more and more interesting things appear. The speed is also increasing, in way I can't digest it all. It's difficult what to choose, to prioritize is the key to deal with it. I always get myself wondering how much new things I will see next years. I'm 30 now, and I started with 17.
  - gcr 11y ago
    Happy birthday! :)
  - kinleyd 11y ago
    I'll be 52 this November. Have been coding mostly as a hobby since '83, with peaks in programming intensity at different stages of my life: sometimes to scratch an itch and sometimes doing some contract/consulting work. Still try to hit the computer whenever I can, but my health's been letting me down lately - nothing too bad, but it's been affecting the focused time I need to do programming right. So now when I sometimes think of my mortality, the thing I regret is the programming I can't do when I'm gone. Or maybe there is programming after death? I'm hopeful. :) In the meanwhile, the free time that's opened up from not programming as much is being wisely invested. I'm working hard on my guitar, and before I go dammit, I'm going to shred like a pro!
0xdeadbeefbabe 11y ago
You aren't dismayed by the direction some things have gone? Are you using Java by any chance? Edit: seriously, what is your env like? Are you into windows, osx, unix, linux?
ScottBurson 11y ago
57 here, programming since 1972. Yes, it is an incredibly exciting time. It's particularly great to see AI taking off after all these years.
smoyer 11y ago
Almost 51 and I'm only a couple years away from my 40th programming anniversary. I can't imagine doing anything else ... I get paid but it's not work for me!
joeguilmette 11y ago
I'm 30, started 1.5 years ago, and feel the same :)

Me 3! 56, first prog job was in '87. Now I'm steadily employed in a dream job, working from home, writing mobile apps and exploring new "IoT" technologies. If this job ends, which all jobs do sooner or later, I'm hoping to starting my own company, finally, and ride that into retirement. But life continues to be an adventure and you never know what lies around the next bend in the road!!! Best of luck to you and to people of all ages in this amazing field.

DanielBMarkham 11y ago
Let's make it an even 4! Just turned 50 yesterday. Wrote my first contract program in 1982 when I was 17. Today I teach teams how to rock-and-roll. I also keep coding, but mostly as a hobby. It has nothing to do with programming -- I simply have too many irons in the fire to do all of the things I love as much as I want to.
- lisper 11y ago
  I guess I might as well pile on. Turned 50 last year. Got my first paycheck for writing code junior year of high school (writing BASIC code on a Commodore PET!) Working on my fifth startup now.
  - SCHiM 11y ago
    I can't imagine all the technologies and skills you guys have acquired. If I may derail the conversation a little bit, may I ask if/how you use the things you've learned today? I mean, is it things like paradigms that have stuck with you like OOP/functional/w\e, or do you always structure your exception handling in a certain way, no matter the language? Are there skills/technologies you've been using since you've started? For example little scripts of basic that you've never let go off that automate things like setting up build servers and the like?
    - lisper 11y ago
      No more BASIC, but I still code in Common Lisp whenever I can. And I'm using some library code that I wrote when I was in grad school 25 years ago. Once you grok Lisp, everything else is easy. You come to realize that the vast majority of what passes for "new technologies" is really just a re-discovery of something that exists (or is easily implemented) in CL. That makes it a lot easier (if a tad frustrating at times) to keep up. EDIT: CLOS, and generic functions in particular, are a HUGE lever that no other language has co-opted yet.
      - typedweb 11y ago
        Same with conditions and restarts.
      - ScottBurson 11y ago
        Ha! I'm still using a piece of Lisp library code that I wrote as an undergrad 35 years ago :-)
      - munificent 11y ago
        > no other language has co-opted yet. Check out Dylan, Julia, and my old hobby language Magpie[1]. [1]: http://magpie-lang.org/multimethods.html http://magpie-lang.org/multimethods.html
        lisper 11y ago
        I guess I should have said: no other mainstream language.
        PuercoPop 11y ago
        Julia has generic function but they are not defined in Julia itself nor is dispatch mechanism can be extended in Julia itself. CLOS is all about meta-circular semantics so I wouldn't include Julia in there (at least not fully)
      - bandrami 11y ago
        You come to realize that the vast majority of what passes for "new technologies" is really just a re-discovery of something that exists (or is easily implemented) in CL So much this. (From a soon-to-be geezer who's staring down 40 soon.)
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- edpichler 11y ago
  I fell as you guys. I am very excited with technology since I started. There is so much new and interesting things to play and read that I have no time to do it all. I can clearly that each year more and more interesting things appear. The speed is also increasing, in way I can't digest it all. It's difficult what to choose, to prioritize is the key to deal with it. I always get myself wondering how much new things I will see next years. I'm 30 now, and I started with 17.
- gcr 11y ago
  Happy birthday! :)
- kinleyd 11y ago
  I'll be 52 this November. Have been coding mostly as a hobby since '83, with peaks in programming intensity at different stages of my life: sometimes to scratch an itch and sometimes doing some contract/consulting work. Still try to hit the computer whenever I can, but my health's been letting me down lately - nothing too bad, but it's been affecting the focused time I need to do programming right. So now when I sometimes think of my mortality, the thing I regret is the programming I can't do when I'm gone. Or maybe there is programming after death? I'm hopeful. :) In the meanwhile, the free time that's opened up from not programming as much is being wisely invested. I'm working hard on my guitar, and before I go dammit, I'm going to shred like a pro!

0xdeadbeefbabe 11y ago

You aren't dismayed by the direction some things have gone? Are you using Java by any chance? Edit: seriously, what is your env like? Are you into windows, osx, unix, linux?

ScottBurson 11y ago

57 here, programming since 1972. Yes, it is an incredibly exciting time. It's particularly great to see AI taking off after all these years.

smoyer 11y ago

Almost 51 and I'm only a couple years away from my 40th programming anniversary. I can't imagine doing anything else ... I get paid but it's not work for me!

joeguilmette 11y ago

I'm 30, started 1.5 years ago, and feel the same :)