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Software Developers after 40, 50 and 60 Who're Still Coding

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Re: Software Developers after 40, 50 and 60 Who're Still Coding

#171

Post by kstenerud »

Joeri wrote: post #60
SimonPStevens wrote: post #32

"StackOverflow’s survey on age shows that there are just about 13% of developers after 40. Where are the others?" Not wasting time filling out online surveys? I'm not even 40 yet and I realised online surveys were a waste of time years ago. :-) A stackoverflow survey doesn't measure the answers of stackoverflow users. It measures the answers from the specific demographic of stackoverflow users who are inclined to ans…

There is still some truth to it. I'm 37 and have had to repeatedly and forcefully turn down managerial roles. The idea of horizontal growth is a hard sell to people who've chosen the vertical path. It would be very easy to drift into a management role, and in fact it happened to me once and I had to take deliberate action to get off the management track. I don't want to manage people. I want to build, and learn about…

I've done management, and I can say that management experience has been invaluable to me.

I do consulting and freelance development now, and my success is in a large part due to the people skills I developed when managing others. You learn a lot about the many different ways people work (and don't work), and you learn a lot about yourself that you'd never see otherwise.

You learn how to mediate differences. You learn how to spot interpersonal problems on the horizon and head them off. You learn how to protect yourself. You learn how to promote harmony and goodwill. You learn how and when to compromise. You learn how to cooperate better. You learn to hear peoples voices. You learn how to be worthy of respect.

Without these skills, you'll forever be at the mercy of the prevailing political and emotional winds. The satisfaction of knowing you're 100% in the right won't unsink the ship.

Re: Software Developers after 40, 50 and 60 Who're Still Coding

#173

Post by phodo »

lutusp wrote: post #78

I'm 71, I wrote a best-seller in the early 1980s (Apple Writer for the Apple ][), I still code regularly but not for income, so my circumstances might not be what the article focuses on. I write a lot of Python, JavaScript, some Java, I have a number of Android apps listed at the Google Play store -- all of them free, no ads ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Paul+Lutus&h... ). Why do I still program?…

Wow how cool. I used your software on my Apple //c and pretty much wrote my entire middle school and most high school reports on it. In fact, when I switched to word perfect I longed for apple writer. Thanks for making it.

Re: Software Developers after 40, 50 and 60 Who're Still Coding

#174

Post by epalmer »

31reasons wrote: post #87
criddell wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm 10 years older than you but feel the same way. I would be interested in hearing from people that did make the jump to management. Why did you do it? How did it turn out? Any regrets about making the jump or for not making the jump sooner?

Reason is simple, very few people love programming and even fewer love to keep learning to stay up-to-date with new technologies. Its simply hard if you are not much interested in doing programming and were in the profession to get a nice job because everyone else was jumping on the bandwagon while you were in college. It is also possible to lose love for programming after initial interest fades away. It has happened…

I'm 63 and love programming. But my job is mostly other things. I coach a scrum team of 5 devs, PO and a proxy PO. I manage 2 developers, I do some security work and a whole lot more. I manage to write code most weeks. Python, php and Java. For the record I love python but my skills are not where I want them. I'm better, much better at Java, but I really don't like coding in Java much anymore and well I do php when I have to.

I do love learning and will continue to learn as I get older.

Re: Software Developers after 40, 50 and 60 Who're Still Coding

#175

Post by hubbins »

lutusp wrote: post #78

I'm 71, I wrote a best-seller in the early 1980s (Apple Writer for the Apple ][), I still code regularly but not for income, so my circumstances might not be what the article focuses on. I write a lot of Python, JavaScript, some Java, I have a number of Android apps listed at the Google Play store -- all of them free, no ads ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Paul+Lutus&h... ). Why do I still program?…

I used Apple World for doing some graphics work in around 1982? Great stuff. 1MHz number crunching FTW.

Age 50 and writing C# .NET Core web services.

Re: Software Developers after 40, 50 and 60 Who're Still Coding

#176

Post by epalmer »

Tistel wrote: post #36

I'm 42, programming is the fun part of the job (meetings, nonsensical time estimates and travel tend to be worst part of the job). Had a computer my whole life (Vic-20, oh yeah!) I strongly agree with what others have said in the article: Keep learning new things. I did nothing but C++ for 13 years (console games) and felt like a dinosaur. Despite the fact that there are still (a few) C++ jobs out there, I made a poi…

I'm 63 and started coding FORTRAN in High School on a GE teletype. Did just a little coding. Went to college and took a FORTRAN class and a PL1 class. I loved PL1. All my undergraduate coding was with punch cards. IBM 360/50.

Im graduate school for engineering I coded just FORTRAN with punch card images but on a terminal. So that was 1000 times better than physical cards. IBM 3090.

Then Apple II, IBM PC, IBM PC-XT, IBM-AT...

First hard drive for IBM PC was $1000 for 10MB.

Re: Software Developers after 40, 50 and 60 Who're Still Coding

#177

Post by Berobero »

krapp wrote: post #138
cryptonector wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a reason graybeards are valuable. It's not that they're over 50 or 60. It's experience. A full-stack developer with 20 years' worth of experience will not make certain kinds of mistakes.

I'm in the awkward position of having only gotten a CS degree and taken programming seriously after 30, so I suppose I'm the worst of both worlds. Of course, I also started going gray at 30, so...

I just graduated with a CS degree at 36; have an offer and will start soon. The age aspect is scary, but I've honestly found it less of an issue than I thought. The most difficult part is pushing past the part of me that says I'm too old to be starting now.

Re: Software Developers after 40, 50 and 60 Who're Still Coding

#178

Post by tyingq »

numinary1 wrote: post #62

What's up with the phrase, "Still programming?" Would anyone think it odd for a 60-year-old physician to still be doctoring, or a 60-year-old lawyer to still practice law. Or for that matter for a 60-year-old artist or craftsperson to "still" pursue their craft. Corporate culture embraces the notion of management as a profession. I think programming would benefit greatly from more of a tradecraft model, where leaders…

Because age discrimination is less prevalent in doctoring, lawyering, and artisting.

Re: Software Developers after 40, 50 and 60 Who're Still Coding

#179

Post by Waterluvian »

justin66 wrote: post #120
cryptonector wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a reason graybeards are valuable. It's not that they're over 50 or 60. It's experience. A full-stack developer with 20 years' worth of experience will not make certain kinds of mistakes.

Does anyone with 20 years experience refer to themselves as a "full-stack developer?"

It's such an insufficient title when your product is a robot and the database is closer to the top of the stack than bottom. I gave up on titles a few years ago when I began to realise that so much of it feels fitting of the dot com era but not today.

Re: Software Developers after 40, 50 and 60 Who're Still Coding

#180

Post by 6t6t6t6 »

mod wrote: post #82
Mc_Big_G wrote: post #74

45. Still coding, probably until I die. Light years ahead of younger developers in the following: * Writing less code * Writing maintainable code * Re-using existing code (requires reading existing code) * Know how APIs should be written * Knowing how to properly map associations * Know when or when not to use another library * Knowing when to tell a product manager to go back and do some more product managing * Know…

> Saying "I don't know" when asked "How long will it take" or "When will it be done" ~5 years experience speaking: How do you do this? I have a very good boss and he knows things, objectively, like "estimates are very squishy," and "developers suck at estimating time" etc. But he still demands time estimates to give clients. Our clients are often agencies, and they get it as well. I do estimates like "10-40 hours, de…

I have a rule. If I trust the PM, I always give my best estimation and a level of confidence on this estimation with the risks. Like:

- I think it will take a week, but this part looks a bit complex, so we may have delays.

- Or, I did something similar last month, so I am quite sure that will take 3 days.

A good PM will know how to deal with this information and what to expect.

If I don't trust the PM, I just add massive paddings.

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