Ask HN: Software development after 40, how do you keep the fire?

The other day, Norm McDonald noted something about Eddie Murphy that I hadn't considered - he was the most talented young comedian ever.

It blows my mind that Murphy was performing at such a high level when he was just 20-21.

Conversely, I'm 30 and lost all enthusiasm for software after working for the big three.

I suggest going to a smaller place where you'll have a bigger impact and, hopefully, good coworkers.

As I see it, things balance out:

1) Young programmers are eager to try new things

2) As you get older, you figure out what works. This is good and bad. It's good, because you don't waste time implementing things which won't work. It's bad because you may not be willing to try something new that may be superior.

If I managed a team, I would prefer to have both perspectives.

I think you have to start with the art. Creativity and critical thinking is what keeps me excited for what I do. The experience and the tooling is just the attachments which extend the capabilities of the brain stuff. Maybe I would get more down on my work if that were to get out of balance, less creativity and more process. Maybe a change of scenery would be good? Try something completely different?

I'm 38, and started programming at 8 years old in BASIC on the Apple ][. If ever I find myself unable to convince anyone to pay me to code, I will still work on my side projects at night while doing something else (for money) during the day.

As far as my "working life", I try to keep myself challenged by seeking out interesting projects. Generally this means changing employers every couple of years, but this gets more difficult the more 'senior' (and expensive) you become. I really would like to settle in at a company that can keep me challenged and growing, but most employers put zero effort into developing and retaining their software engineers (too easy to find new ones, I guess).

For example, my current employer (less than a year) has me doing legacy software maintenance (not the type of work I was promised when hired), which is doing nothing for my career (probably causing active harm) and is boring as hell (no architecture/design/SE work, no challenging CS problems, no leadership responsibility) - it's the kind of work I'd expect to be doing in my 60s when I'm coasting into retirement (assuming I can stand it even then). So I'm interviewing again. I hate interviewing.