Ask HN: Am I dead meat already?

#1

Post by tHrOwAwAyXQWE » Tue, Jun 11, 2024, 9:24 AM UTC

Hi. I've been in the profession (SW Eng) for about 18 yrs now. A few years from my 50s. Didn't go the managerial route. Stayed technical. My current gig is in a very difficult and complex project written in C. Been there for 2 yrs now and I'm afraid that due to the ancient tech stack and despite being a good engineer I'm loosing my marketability.

After enduring bad behavior for nth time (yeah it's a toxic workplace) I decided I had enough and did a round of applications. Mostly for backend positions and mostly for golang positions. I don't have prod xp with golang but it's close to C and every time I've used it it seemed ok. But the problem is that I'm either being ignored or skipped over. All jobs are for seniors in the _specific_tech_stack_. Other positions I've applied for and got no response whatsoever are architects, tech managers and the like. Granded, this regards a turd job market (EU/Greece) but still that's where I am at.

Am I toasted for good? I mean, nearing my 50s with my most recent gig writing "C" on it is as good as declaring my career over?

Re: Ask HN: Am I dead meat already?

#2

Post by cranberryturkey » Tue, Jun 11, 2024, 9:26 AM UTC

I'm 49 and have only had 1-2 interviews a month since last august when I got canned.

Re: Ask HN: Am I dead meat already?

#3

Post by jc6 » Tue, Jun 11, 2024, 9:34 AM UTC

Target EU govt and mil complex jobs. They have older stacks, favor experience and have more funds these days thanks to the war. Plus much less stress than in private sector.

Re: Ask HN: Am I dead meat already?

#4

Post by kstenerud » Tue, Jun 11, 2024, 9:36 AM UTC

I remember in 1999 thinking "Damn! The world's moved on to Java and I'm still writing in C! I won't last much longer..." Then I got a job writing C code for those wireless credit card doohickies (a nasty mess of Z80s with crazy paging schemes to access 2mb of memory, but I digress).

A few years later I actually started working in Java and Python, and then iPhone came along and I was right back in C land again!

Then in 2016 I got a job writing in Go, which lasted 2 years - aaaaand now I'm back to writing C (and C++) again - 25 years after my C-career crisis.

It's not like I'm actively seeking C jobs - I'm a polyglot and can handle pretty much anything. But again and again these C jobs just keep coming out of the woodwork... And I can command premium salary because there just aren't many skilled C developers anymore.

Re: Ask HN: Am I dead meat already?

#5

Post by veryseniorwow » Tue, Jun 11, 2024, 9:41 AM UTC

> Am I toasted for good

That might be rather harsh wording, but I wouldn't rule it out entirely.

I am in my mid 40s, have been professionally in the business since my 20s and recently "migrated" out as I did not see much potential in it any more.

Admittedly, it also depends on how flexible you are and how willing to adopt the latest trends (to avoid saying fads :) ). If you feel comfortable with that, it shouldn't be "impossible" to stay in the field but the age will certainly still play a factor.

I am not sure how good my advice can be, but if you want to stay technical and with Go, I'd say keep applying for such positions. Many companies will reject you because you may not fulfill their arbitrary requirements, but there'll be eventually a company who recognises your experience and your abilities.

While I am probably biased, I would still say programming has become a rather tough market these days for anyone 35+

Re: Ask HN: Am I dead meat already?

#6

Post by veryseniorwow » Tue, Jun 11, 2024, 9:42 AM UTC

veryseniorwow wrote: post #5

> Am I toasted for good That might be rather harsh wording, but I wouldn't rule it out entirely. I am in my mid 40s, have been professionally in the business since my 20s and recently "migrated" out as I did not see much potential in it any more. Admittedly, it also depends on how flexible you are and how willing to adopt the latest trends (to avoid saying fads :) ). If you feel comfortable with that, it shouldn't be…

And yes, what jc6 said might be true as well. The public sector often does not immediately go all-in on the latest fads and may have more realistic expectations.

Still, no guarantee either of course.

Re: Ask HN: Am I dead meat already?

#7

Post by wtbdqrs » Tue, Jun 11, 2024, 9:43 AM UTC

there are always teaching positions. "nutty greybeards teaching nutty kids". connect with the nerd and maker culture and ask around, in case you decide to go with and for progress.

Re: Ask HN: Am I dead meat already?

#8

Post by tHrOwAwAyXQWE » Tue, Jun 11, 2024, 9:46 AM UTC

veryseniorwow wrote: post #5

> Am I toasted for good That might be rather harsh wording, but I wouldn't rule it out entirely. I am in my mid 40s, have been professionally in the business since my 20s and recently "migrated" out as I did not see much potential in it any more. Admittedly, it also depends on how flexible you are and how willing to adopt the latest trends (to avoid saying fads :) ). If you feel comfortable with that, it shouldn't be…

> "migrated" out

what did you do?

Re: Ask HN: Am I dead meat already?

#9

Post by uyzstvqs » Tue, Jun 11, 2024, 10:09 AM UTC

The European tech job market is... not great. You're not alone in this issue, it doesn't have to do with you, companies are extremely picky.

Best advice I can give is to stop applying for vacancies and start networking.

Re: Ask HN: Am I dead meat already?

#10

Post by austin-cheney » Tue, Jun 11, 2024, 10:12 AM UTC

I went through this myself. I was a 15 year JS/TS developer who had been doing web work even longer than that in my mid 40s. I changed careers last year. It felt like starting over but it was completely worth it.

My long time painful observations:

For the longest time the corporate web business back was dominated by Java. Some of the people doing that work were incredible engineers but many were not. Many of the people were praying, some still do, that Web Assembly would replace JavaScript because it scared the shit out them. It was both sad and incompetent. You couldn’t talk about this because it made people wildly emotional.

Observation two is that JS people were just as fearful and emotional, perhaps much more so, but about almost everything. Many of these people were expert beginners who built a career based on complex nonsense because many of them never really learned to program and would supplement their practical deficits with stacks of tools, frameworks, abstractions, and so forth. Again, you couldn’t rationally talk to people about this without them becoming hyper emotional because it destroys a persons definition of worth and credibility.

The best thing that happened to me was being laid off and waiting for something different.