Where do all the old programmers go?

These articles are getting old. Pardon the pun.

The main reason older programmers are so under-represented is that the field has grown exponentially over the past 2 decades. With ever larger influxes of college grads the previous smaller cohorts get more and more diluted across the industry.

> "Many programmers find that their employability starts to decline at about age 35," Matloff writes. ... "Statistics show that most software developers are out of the field by age 40," Matloff continues ... (Matloff declines to mention which statistics he's reading.)

So basically he's spouting BS to match his talking point.

IMO, older programmers who have done good work in the past are at a major advantage: we have a network of former co-workers who can speak to our abilities better than any whiteboard interview can and who can alert their managers/recruiters that we are someone worth going after.

I realize my experience is anecdotal, however having made two job changes in my 40s, my experience could not be more different from what Matloff implies:

- When chatting with former co-workers, if I even remotely hint at considering a switch, I have their recruiters kicking down my door the next day.

- I have employers skip phone screens to get me into a loop faster in the hopes of getting a jump on other potential employers.

- I've had some offers without interviewing both times I was looking for my next gig. Other offers' interviews felt like formalities because they had to have a loop in the big company HR system.

- I have a constant stream of "would you consider this great opportunity?" on LinkedIn despite the fact that one can easily reverse-engineer my approximate age from my profile.

- etc., etc.

It doesn't feel like "employability starts to decline at about age 35" from where I'm sitting. And lest I be labelled some special outlier, I have a good number of friends & former co-workers in the mid-40s age bracket who are having similar experiences.

The fact that a handful of SV startup bros only want to hire their long-lost twins doesn't make the bulk of the industry old-programmer-averse.

I'm not retired, by no means - I'm 51. I'll keep on hacking for as long as I feel the urge and find some need. I do concentrate on trying to make our (way of) life less dependent on a steady income stream - in other words, I use time and some money to make us less dependent on future money. A farm with enough land to support a family is a good start, especially one which has both arable land as well as productive forest. Hence my choice, although the fact that I studied forestry at an agricultural university might have something to do with it as well.

> you'll probably check the box next to "project manager" instead of "software developer"

Actually that's a demotion as far as I can tell.

I have a question for all the veteran devs out there.

How do you keep from getting burned out on the mismanagement that plagues our industry?

Is it personal perseverance? Are you just super selective with what jobs you take? Is the love of building something stronger than any feelings of frustration with poor management?

Or VB classic in the '90s.