Hi! So I'm almost your dad's age, and I totally get his desire not to become irrelevant to the world of work, especially after such an impressive career. I satisfied that desire by diving deep into Web3, and mounting a project to sell NFTs of Nirvana from images I had shot in 1991. (Yes, the band members + Frances Bean Cobain were on board, as long as I donated half the proceeds to charity, but their lawyers didn't want me to involve them publicly.) I joined some DAOs and am having fun hanging out in Web3 communities. This is a way that you can have a hobby that feels as satisfying as an impressive career, since the Web3 space is so wide open, and there's so many ways to make a meaningful contribution. Another thing your dad can do (without making a years-long commitment to learn programming) is to get a certificate in cybersecurity. My husband is in cybersecurity, and though some of it is technical, most of the work is really about governance, something your Dad is obviously good at. Typically when there's a lapse in cybersecurity, it's due to a failure of good governance at the company. There is a huge need right now for those who understand traditional industry AND cybersecurity, and your dad might be able to get involved in the fight to shore up our nation's infrastructure against the (probably) coming Russian incursions. Good luck to him. I get his feeling of casting about and being lost because younger people are getting all the interesting jobs.
Ask HN: Starting a Career in Programming at 61?
81–90 of 186 posts
Re: Ask HN: Starting a Career in Programming at 61?
#82It's great that he is still up for working! At risk of getting flamed... It's tricky I think because even if he can learn to program to a suitable standard, I think the reality will be that people will see him as a "junior" but you will have a different working dynamic since it is easier for an e.g. 30 year old to coach someone who is younger if they are doing it wrong but could be tricky trying to coach an older per…
The flip side of this is true as well. Ageism is a real problem in our industry. People are just more patient with young college grads and more willing to help them out. As somebody who transitioned to SWE in a big company(FAANG) after a decade of wireless communications research, I found out despite all the processes and supposed practices a big company has in place to onboard people from different backgrounds, you…
Well said. Thanks for the honest contribution.
Re: Ask HN: Starting a Career in Programming at 61?
#83Your dad will be a unicorn -- someone who knows how to code, but also has the business/social aptitude to manage relationships with executives. This is very rare and impressive.
I'd encourage him to give this a shot.
A lot of technical people don't appreciate how difficult the relationship aspect is, and often struggle with it. Your has this in spades!
Re: Ask HN: Starting a Career in Programming at 61?
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
> could be tricky trying to coach an older person unless they have genuine humility Bingo. This goes for young people too, but is more important as we age or rise through the ranks. Accepting advice from an "inferior" with grace, humility, and thankfulness is key to gaining respect and learning at the rate necessary to stay on top of a field. I've taught things to people who were a million times more intelligent than…
Accepting some advice or input on an individual item vs having someone 'manage' you are different beasts. As I come up to 50, and work with a group of folks ranging from 28-32... the age and experience gaps are highlighted often. I'm happy to contribute, and I do occasionally learn something from someone (often some specific tool I'd not seen before). But there's a resistance to 'learn' from me. We're 'equalized' on…
Hi! Thanks for the honest response. I'm your age, and find the same reluctance from young people to listen to me when I've been down that road before. They really do have to learn from making mistakes, as they keep telling you, and can't learn from your experience. I'm not defending them for not taking advantage of the diamonds right in front of them, but I also understand their need to experience things for themselves. After all, how did you learn?
Re: Ask HN: Starting a Career in Programming at 61?
#85There's probably a huge demand for people with his business skillset honestly. If he finds the right niche (building tooling for COOS/CFOS), they'd probably prefer talking to someone who understands their domain and can translate it into code rather than talking to some 'geek' who knows mainly computers.
Re: Ask HN: Starting a Career in Programming at 61?
#86It's great that he is still up for working! At risk of getting flamed... It's tricky I think because even if he can learn to program to a suitable standard, I think the reality will be that people will see him as a "junior" but you will have a different working dynamic since it is easier for an e.g. 30 year old to coach someone who is younger if they are doing it wrong but could be tricky trying to coach an older per…
The flip side of this is true as well. Ageism is a real problem in our industry. People are just more patient with young college grads and more willing to help them out. As somebody who transitioned to SWE in a big company(FAANG) after a decade of wireless communications research, I found out despite all the processes and supposed practices a big company has in place to onboard people from different backgrounds, you…
How does working remotely seem to affect ageism in software development?
Re: Ask HN: Starting a Career in Programming at 61?
#87Everything is possible of course.
Will he, an executive before, have the required patience and humility to start at the bottom rung again, to e.g. step into a company with 20-year olds that know more than he does? 20-year olds that may not always be as kind as he would like them to be?
If I were in his shoes my answer would be no.
But the solution I would consider: have him build his own product.
He's of a certain age, so he probably has experience to areas that us younger folk have no idea about. Is getting medication a pain? Is there an app he'd wish he had on his phone or on the web to help him with various activities? Something friends of his age would like? Or something he could build for the children of older parents that could help them out?
If you're saying that he used to be an executive, I imagine by this point he's got enough savings to be comfortably retired. So, he can spend some time learning ruby on rails and pick up some front end stuff and start hacking away at a product he would like to see in the world.
Expose it publicly (the "hey I'm 61 and here's my side project" is bound to get a lot of clicks) and then go from there.
But that's what I would recommend. I wouldn't necessarily recommend he learn a stack and apply for jobs.
Re: Ask HN: Starting a Career in Programming at 61?
#88I don't know if your dad wants to hear that ageism is super real in our industry.
Re: Ask HN: Starting a Career in Programming at 61?
#89Everything is possible of course. Will he, an executive before, have the required patience and humility to start at the bottom rung again, to e.g. step into a company with 20-year olds that know more than he does? 20-year olds that may not always be as kind as he would like them to be? If I were in his shoes my answer would be no. But the solution I would consider: have him build his own product. He's of a certain ag…
Beyond age-related things to solve for, his experience as an executive probably has a much more niche range of everyday inconveniences that a lot fewer people out there are building or have tried to build for. Maybe things that CEOs don't necessarily have to do themselves, but that he's noticed his EAs always spent an inordinate amount of time on, and for which a product could make them more effective.
Re: Ask HN: Starting a Career in Programming at 61?
#90It’s definitely possible. Even if coding is out of reach for him… I think being tech adjacent is good enough. It would be cool if you hired him as an intern in your business… his business experience alone will be an asset for you. He can handle the human side of things and still be in tech and give him opportunity to explore while also feeling helpful.