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

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

#191

Post by IanDrake »

edw519 wrote: post #60

57, programming for 33 years with hardly a day off, and having more fun than ever. My motivation? It's not about the technology, the tools, the apps, the business, the customers, or even the money, although any of those can provide plenty of motivation. And believe it or not, it's not even about the happy dance feeling I get when something I built works for the first time. It's about the achievements of those who use…

Frankly, there aren't enough of you out there.

As a consultant, I've rarely met a developer over 50 who's still interested in their job (however I wonder if they ever were).

In the few cases I have, it's been amazing. The stories someone with 33 years of quality experience can tell you about are eye opening. They can remind you of how far we've come, how what's old is new again, and how to adapt in an ever changing tech scene.

My father is 73 and still works in sales because he loves it. I'd hope to do the same thing in IT.

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

#192

Post by IanDrake »

127001brewer wrote: post #98
daliusd wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So it is about achievements of your paying customers using your technology business's apps you wrote using tools at your hand. Simply put you are happy that you have created something useful to others or there is something more?

My father worked with his hands for his entire working life; at the time, he tells me, he worked on the U.S. Coast Guard Eagle more than anyone else (such as replacing the entire decking, etc). It's something that he's extremely proud of and something he can actually show his grandchildren. On the other hand, I build things that are, for the most part, abstract and virtual . I enjoy what I do because it allows me to…

I had a poster of that ship on my wall for about 10 years. It's beautiful. Your dad should be very proud.

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

#194

Post by ww520 »

Yes, I do plan to be doing this when I will be 50 or 60 or whenever. There's always something new coming up, new platforms, new hardware, new languages, new tools, new problem areas.

For example, I've just learned a new vision algorithm that came up couple year ago that makes one of the vision problems solvable with modern hardware, that opens up the possibility to build solutions for this kind of problem.

We are slowly but surely automating life with software, and we developers are in the middle of it. Why stop just because you've aged?

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

#195

Post by Surio »

saraid216 wrote: post #168
jacquesm wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My grandparents would have been very happy with time and energy left over for 'hobbies and tinkering'.

I think you both need to remember that you probably have different sets of grandparents living in different circumstances.

Exactly what I wanted to point out, especially in the context of his original comment about "choosing your own projects that you like to work on" (paraphrased).

When I wrote that line, it was really not about grandparents or about relative quality of life, but of "circumstances" that one finds themselves in, which then go on to dictate various other things in the person's life as well.

And I think you got it :-)

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

#196

Post by ww520 »

raganwald wrote: post #80

If you're young, be sure to read the responses here very carefully. There are lots of people like me who love what they do at fifty or beyond. Yay! But of course, this sample has survivor bias. How many people who left the profession in their forties are going to post on HN? How many people who are fifty and hate their jobs are going to post on HN? I love what I do and try to share that love. But my advice to you is…

You are right. The ones who stick around have done something right.

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

#197

Post by Wintamute »

gliese1337 wrote: post #175
Wintamute wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it makes more sense to start measuring from the time you started professionally programming ... so if the 57 year old parent has been programming for 33 years that suggests that he's measuring from when he left full time education (24). My apologies if you've been coding professionally since you were 9 though :)

Good point, but I'm not really sure how to judge that. I've been getting paid for it for about 5 years, but that doesn't encompass all the stuff that I've built that other people have found useful, which is the metric that I care about. So, 8-ish, maybe? Anyway, the point is that I don't have 33 years under my belt, so maybe I'm wrong about how I'll feel in the future, but based on the experience I do have, I just do…

Yeah totally agree. I've got about 8 years under my belt (first proper coding job in '04 and I'm 32 now, notwithstanding a lifetime tinkering with computers though). Still loving it and learning new things every day, hope it stays that way :) I guess the point I was trying to make is the metric people expect to hear, especially in a work environment is years of experience in the Industry (capital "I") getting paid. I don't dispute that you have a internal metric too, which is awesome. I guess you have to compare like with like though.

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

#198

Post by sjf »

slurgfest wrote: post #179
jerf wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a natural cynic, yes, but people tend not to pay you unless you are doing something that makes you a cog for some period of time. It's not a criticism you can just fling at someone when you don't know their context. An experienced software contractor who is picking and choosing their own jobs is still pretty autonomous. It's more about whether you can pick where you are a cog and for whom you are a cog, than whe…

Although I don't really use the word 'cog,' you are being uncharitable here; the word isn't completely meaningless and using it isn't "screeching". The poster seemed to be distinguishing not on the basis of interdependence but on the basis of who has control over your life and the context of your work, and where the resulting profit would go. (This is, of course, my reading). One part is your freedom. If you want to…

I love your terminology, I'm going to use this in the future instead of just saying 'corporate'.

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

#200

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

mengine wrote: post #116
edw519 wrote: post #60

57, programming for 33 years with hardly a day off, and having more fun than ever. My motivation? It's not about the technology, the tools, the apps, the business, the customers, or even the money, although any of those can provide plenty of motivation. And believe it or not, it's not even about the happy dance feeling I get when something I built works for the first time. It's about the achievements of those who use…

This sounds pretty depressing to me. You're building the software that allows others to retire while you're a cog in someone else's wheel for another 33 years. Why not build your own achievements?

Everyone is a cog in someone else's wheel.

People don't get rich by simply taking from others (OK with a few exceptions); they get rich by offering something that another person/business/etc sees as a benefit worth paying for.

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