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Ask HN: Does this old horse have a few years of useful work left?

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Re: Ask HN: Does this old horse have a few years of useful work left?

#101

Post by nvarsj »

estefan wrote: post #39
m0nty wrote: post #24

49 here, I'm not enjoying working in IT nowadays, I think it got old about 5 or 6 years ago. So I quit and I'm pursuing my own projects, doing some programming, and trying not to worry too much. I could have ground it out for a few months more in that lucrative contract I had, but just how long can I put up with being that bored? Personally, if I have to go back to the circus, I'll probably aim for short contracts or…

I don't want to be a downer, but devops is definitely NOT just a new name for being a sysadmin. We've actively recruited for people who are not old fashioned jump-on-a-box-and-make-hot-changes sysadmins. They need to understand automated infrastructure and deployment through code, so it's not a small niche to just pick up easily. If it was that easy, everyone would be doing it and it wouldn't pay so well.

This is hilarious. What do you think good sysadmins were doing before "devops"? Just hacking around cowboy style? Everything old is new again.

Re: Ask HN: Does this old horse have a few years of useful work left?

#102

Post by Firegarden »

PerfectElement wrote: post #81
Firegarden wrote: post #6

I am 36 and been contracting full time since I was 22. Really I was only an employee at my first programming job. The concern that you have is of technology stack. The concern you are alluding to is how to stay relevant when being an older person. The first concern is easy. Stick with some fundamentals. JavaScript for example is a perfect choice. By now we should all know JavaScript and another example is the Dom API…

You should know that you can't say you like .NET on HN without getting a bunch of replies telling you why .NET sucks.

You know what sucks? Missing out on being a .net developer. We are kings in a world of peasants. Yes I said it Kings!

.NET is killer just killer.

Re: Ask HN: Does this old horse have a few years of useful work left?

#103

Post by reality_czech »

rejschaap wrote: post #99
brianwawok wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are two kinds of DevOps. You have DEVops... think of a web developer who also knows linux. Then you have devOPS... think of a sysadmin who knows bash and python. The former is where I think the value comes.. they find ways to automate your infrastructure and do lots of cool things. The later tend to make webs of bash scripts that you have to delete when they quit because no one understands them.

You basically just argued there is no such thing as devops, just developers and system administrators.

Next thing you know, he's going to be telling you that your 360" review is actually a yearly review, that your scrum master is actually just a team lead, and that your gluten-free bread is actually just a rice cake with sugar. These old-timers sure do get some funny ideas.

Re: Ask HN: Does this old horse have a few years of useful work left?

#104

Post by abrookewood »

PerfectElement wrote: post #81
Firegarden wrote: post #6

I am 36 and been contracting full time since I was 22. Really I was only an employee at my first programming job. The concern that you have is of technology stack. The concern you are alluding to is how to stay relevant when being an older person. The first concern is easy. Stick with some fundamentals. JavaScript for example is a perfect choice. By now we should all know JavaScript and another example is the Dom API…

You should know that you can't say you like .NET on HN without getting a bunch of replies telling you why .NET sucks.

I don't think that's true any more - Microsoft have made lots of inroads recently that are starting to attract mindshare (Visual Studio Community is awesome and free; .net is open source etc). Even if it IS true, you should be free to call people out on it. HN needs to stay as a place where people can discuss things civilly. Disclosure: I work at a .NET shop, but am personally more interested in Python, Elixir etc

Re: Ask HN: Does this old horse have a few years of useful work left?

#105

Post by estefan »

nvarsj wrote: post #101
estefan wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want to be a downer, but devops is definitely NOT just a new name for being a sysadmin. We've actively recruited for people who are not old fashioned jump-on-a-box-and-make-hot-changes sysadmins. They need to understand automated infrastructure and deployment through code, so it's not a small niche to just pick up easily. If it was that easy, everyone would be doing it and it wouldn't pay so well.

This is hilarious. What do you think good sysadmins were doing before "devops"? Just hacking around cowboy style? Everything old is new again.

Yeah. Just writing their own custom stuff. It's partly about standardisation. Using a standard web framework means transferable skills which makes it easier to find and on-board staff. Devops is the formalisation of the same thing for ops, i.e. standard tools instead of just chucking together bash scripts however you please.

Re: Ask HN: Does this old horse have a few years of useful work left?

#106

Post by groneg »

Firegarden wrote: post #6

I am 36 and been contracting full time since I was 22. Really I was only an employee at my first programming job. The concern that you have is of technology stack. The concern you are alluding to is how to stay relevant when being an older person. The first concern is easy. Stick with some fundamentals. JavaScript for example is a perfect choice. By now we should all know JavaScript and another example is the Dom API…

This is fire.

Re: Ask HN: Does this old horse have a few years of useful work left?

#107

Post by justin_vanw »

rhapsodic wrote: post #96
justin_vanw wrote: post #89

You are clearly omitting the most important part of your story. Are you an alcoholic? Bipolar? Do you suffer severe depression where you stop showing up for work for weeks at a time? Schizophrenia? I wish you the best, but it is silly for you to act like you 'just can't deal with it' rather than just admitting the real issue and trying to get help.

+1. I'm surprised so many people commenting think this guy needs advice about the job market or different types of technology that might interest him. I wish the OP luck in resolving his problems, but I doubt that they stem mainly from his skillset or the job market.

I agree, there is far more high paying work for the skills he claims to have than there are people to do the work.

In a career that long, he has dozens and dozens of former colleagues who are now far along in their careers and are decision makers. He should be getting offers to do work, nonstop, on his terms. He should be able to accept or reject work based on considerations other than 'getting money to eat', such as whether it is interesting work, whether he enjoys interacting with the other people on the project, whether it lets him work remotely, etc.

There is a huge hole in this story. Why don't his past colleagues want to work with him again? What has gotten him blacklisted? The subtext here says more than the actual story.

Re: Ask HN: Does this old horse have a few years of useful work left?

#108

Post by FrankyHollywood »

"but the day-to-day workflow was tedious and torturous". I guess what you describe is something every oldtimer in every discipline recognizes.

How do you think a dentist feels after 30 years of 'could you open your mouth a bit further, tnx, yeah, well let me see, sir do you floss at a daily basis? Especially the back teeth need some more attention...'

Saying you are a 'C' guy makes no sense, sounds like you have forgotten about all the shit you had to take care of in the old days :)

There were tens (or even hundreds?) of C variants with there own compilers, frameworks, platforms, non-compatability, dll-hell.

I have had a great time working in a simple application management team, and a horrible time working in a startup with advanced search technology.

My experience is nice coworkers make or break the day. A boring team is killing, even if the project is great.

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