Do You Really Want to be Doing this When You're 50? • Hacker News Board

Re: Do You Really Want to be Doing this When You're 50?

#21

Post by saraid216 » Thu, Oct 04, 2012, 8:45 AM UTC

Some people actually seem to be missing a significant part of his point. He's not talking about "Do you want to be coding at all when you're 50?" He's talking about the dependency management that goes into building something large on the shoulders of others.

That's a lot different from "hacking on your homepage" or throwing together a quick Ruby script utility to do some scraping.

Re: Do You Really Want to be Doing this When You're 50?

#22

Post by krig » Thu, Oct 04, 2012, 8:46 AM UTC

jgrahamc wrote: post #4

In short, yes, and I'm in my 40s. I actually returned to programming after years managing programmers in part because I was unhappy. I realized that the further I got from the machine and _making_ the less happy I was. So, if you asked me whether I wanted to be 'managing' at 50, I'd say "Hell, no!". The enjoyment of making things work, learning and shipping it real. I hope I'm still able to feel those things at 80. I…

32 here, and so far programming is the best thing I've ever done in life. The stress I've experienced has all emerged from my own expectations of myself, from wanting to excel.

My mother is in her late fifties and recently returned to working in a children's daycare after being a manager for many years because working with children was what she was passionate about, and she realised she had advanced away from what made her want to go to work.

I feel the same way about moving away from programming - what I enjoy is digging my hands deep into the rich code, smelling the mix of coffee and ozone, feeling the flourescent glare burn into my retinas - THAT is what makes life worth living!

Re: Do You Really Want to be Doing this When You're 50?

#23

Post by sentinel » Thu, Oct 04, 2012, 8:53 AM UTC

Yes. Maybe not exactly the same thing (because as the author mentions, technology is an ever-changing field), but it's very interesting to see and adapt to that change as it is happening. Especially now when the tech sector is at the core of everything around us.

Re: Do You Really Want to be Doing this When You're 50?

#24

Post by tonyedgecombe » Thu, Oct 04, 2012, 8:54 AM UTC

peterhost wrote: post #10

lukeholder wrote: post #2

I just turned 29 and this depressed me.

You'll see, turning 40 is even worse ;)

I'm nearly fifty and have found things get easier as you age. The things I used to worry about in my twenties just aren't on my radar now.

Re: Do You Really Want to be Doing this When You're 50?

#25

Post by EwanToo » Thu, Oct 04, 2012, 8:56 AM UTC

Yes, because I can't guess what the world will be like in 20 years time, but I am 100% certain that I'll want to be working with the insanely powerful computers that we have then.

Re: Do You Really Want to be Doing this When You're 50?

#26

Post by laichzeit0 » Thu, Oct 04, 2012, 8:59 AM UTC

No. I'd like to be retired before 50. I'll probably still code when I retire, but it will be in something like Mathematica or R while I sit around learning subjects that interest me.

Re: Do You Really Want to be Doing this When You're 50?

#27

Post by henrik_w » Thu, Oct 04, 2012, 9:15 AM UTC

Absolutely! I'm 46, I have been programming professionally for 21 years, and I still love it.

I think we're lucky to be in such a creative and interesting profession where you get to learn lots (and it pays comparatively well too).

I've written about the joy of programming in "Why I Love Coding" http://henrikwarne.com/2012/06/02/why-i-love-coding/

Re: Do You Really Want to be Doing this When You're 50?

#28

Post by geofft » Thu, Oct 04, 2012, 9:17 AM UTC

I'm excited to see all the other folks in this thread who say they're 50 and they're programming! I've been worried that because everyone _else_ thinks "large scale, high stress programming" -- i.e., the kind of programming that's _fun_ -- is a young man's (or woman's) game, I won't be able to have a job like the one I have when I'm 50, and I might need to find some other career I enjoy in order to continue having a job I enjoy when I'm 50.

I'm not looking for advancement, since advancement would be out of programming and into management, nor a pay raise, since programmer salaries are already plenty high. I just want to be doing exactly what I'm now doing in thirty years.

Re: Do You Really Want to be Doing this When You're 50?

#29

Post by thedealmaker » Thu, Oct 04, 2012, 9:21 AM UTC

I think it is very important to understand the "real" differences in what it means to program vs. manage. In programming in most cases you are working on projects. Once you deliver the code that project is essentially over (minus support and bug fixing of course). In a management role many of the key activities never really conclude. For example, resource allocation overall and amongst various projects, is something depending on circumstance, you may have to revisit on a weekly or monthly basis. So you don't get the satisfaction of "delivering" anymore and items stay in your inbox much longer. This for me is the key difference.

Re: Do You Really Want to be Doing this When You're 50?

#30

Post by pyrotechnick » Thu, Oct 04, 2012, 9:24 AM UTC

Yes I do but we'll all be writing genomes by then.