A topic near and dear to my heart. ;-)
Pervasive myths about older software developers
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Pervasive myths about older software developers
1–10 of 73 posts
Re: Pervasive myths about older software developers
#2Old guys also rant about how being old is not actually a disadvantage.
Re: Pervasive myths about older software developers
#3I'm about to turn 50.
I've had a /great/ last ten years. I'm not sure what the next decade is going to be like, but keeping fit and keeping up with industry stuff that matters are high on my list.
I've seen many older developers "die" by
- Getting into management (and not keeping up technically)
- Becoming complacent and not learning new things on a continual basis
- Getting stuck doing the same thing for years
I don't mean you should be a butterfly -- nobody likes working with someone who's only spent three months on any project and to whom everything new and flaky is "oooh, shiny!" -- but I've seen too many people just get stuck and seem not to care.
My father in law retired as a C programmer when he was 75. I've seen people considering starting a start-up at 60. If you take care of yourself and your industry smarts, I don't see why this couldn't be you, too.
Re: Pervasive myths about older software developers
#4I'm about to turn 50. I've had a /great/ last ten years. I'm not sure what the next decade is going to be like, but keeping fit and keeping up with industry stuff that matters are high on my list. I've seen many older developers "die" by - Getting into management (and not keeping up technically) - Becoming complacent and not learning new things on a continual basis - Getting stuck doing the same thing for years I don…
Butterflies can be great too. Not the part where they've never spent more than three months on anything, but the part where everything new is "ooooh shiny!" is very important for everyone involved.
It's just probably best to save the "Oooh shiny" for exploratory pet projects until shiny becomes reasonable stable.
Re: Pervasive myths about older software developers
#5Old developer here. Nice to affirm that these are "myths" in the sense that they are often not true, but given a random old guy these may be quite accurate. These are observations that people have made of real individuals that do not generalize to the whole group.
> Myth: Older software developers are more jaded and cynical and therefore, less desirable in the workplace than younger ones. Younger developers are more enthusiastic than older ones.
I would have to say I have been both growing in enthusiasm and getting more jaded. The getting jaded part means you no longer want to hurl yourself at something that experience tells you is doomed from the start, but the enthusiasm means maybe this new twist will make it work.
One of the great powers of youth is ignorance - the kind of ignorance that enables you to take on projects that are too big and require you to push beyond your original capabilities until you conquer. This ignorance is the source of tales that start: "if I had known what I was getting into...."
Re: Pervasive myths about older software developers
#6I'm about to turn 50. I've had a /great/ last ten years. I'm not sure what the next decade is going to be like, but keeping fit and keeping up with industry stuff that matters are high on my list. I've seen many older developers "die" by - Getting into management (and not keeping up technically) - Becoming complacent and not learning new things on a continual basis - Getting stuck doing the same thing for years I don…
Certainly it's about staying relevant no-matter where you are at in your career age-wise.
Unfortunately though I think older developers face more scrutiny as far as their skills go. It's funny but being more fit/healthy does take the edge of of this 'problem' to some degree, but nothing cures it better than thorough technical knowledge and a solid work history of 15-20+ years.
Re: Pervasive myths about older software developers
#7Old guys also rant about how being old is not actually a disadvantage.
Downvoted? As an old guy it's the first thing I thought when I read the article.
Re: Pervasive myths about older software developers
#8Old developer here. Nice to affirm that these are "myths" in the sense that they are often not true, but given a random old guy these may be quite accurate. These are observations that people have made of real individuals that do not generalize to the whole group. > Myth: Older software developers are more jaded and cynical and therefore, less desirable in the workplace than younger ones. Younger developers are more…
When I was about 14 years younger, I embarked on a project that, in retrospect, was way more than I could handle, but I was, as you suggest, too ignorant to realize it.
It took me a long time. Years of part-time effort. But I finally rolled out the first release. I learned a whole lot along the way, and it felt awesome to bring the project to some level of completion.
I'm probably too experienced now to be fooled into starting a project that I know is way more than I could handle, but maybe I should do some of those projects anyway.
Re: Pervasive myths about older software developers
#9Old guys also rant about how being old is not actually a disadvantage.
Young guys complain that no one will hire them because they have no experience. Old guys complain that no one will hire them because companies only want cheap, young guys. I complain because I like hearing my own voice. Nothing new in the world...