Do you really want to be making this much money when you're 50?
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Re: Do you really want to be making this much money when you're 50?
#2If what's described is true:
a) Tons of money to be made b) Tons of unmet demand
Why the outsourcing market isn't growing as much as it should? There are plenty of places with more than capable programmers which are usually paid in peanuts not only when compared with SV, but when compared to people in the same country.
That smells like a niche waiting to be disrupted. He who solves the trust and quality perception and control issues, will become very rich.
Re: Do you really want to be making this much money when you're 50?
#3One of the biggest reason there aren't that many 50-year-old programmers is that a lot of programmers move to other roles in the same company, like line manager, project manager, product manager or various sales roles.
Re: Do you really want to be making this much money when you're 50?
#4I've seen all kind of different programmers. The ones that are not in it for the money and the ones that hate their job but won't switch because it has a good pay. It reminded me of this animated movie about 'what motivates us' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc The essence: don't underpay and don't overpay.
More and more programmers are looking for good company cultures with a good (but not highest pay). Money will make your life easier but won't make you happy.
Re: Do you really want to be making this much money when you're 50?
#5This is a nice response to the other blog post. It is amazing how privileged your life gets when you can do black magic with code that most people don't even dream of ever being able to understand.
However, I disagree with this statement: "So I'm not planning to quit programming, not because it's such a great source of joy by itself, but because it looks so good compared to just about anything else."
Well, I wouldn't want to miss the high I get from being in the zone for four hours straight either. I wonder if the author implies that programming is no longer fun to him or if its just not the deciding factor. To me, the fun in coding is really a big part of my overall happiness and so contributes a large part of the decision to stay in the field.
Re: Do you really want to be making this much money when you're 50?
#6I've often times felt guilty that this is almost exactly the reason why I program. I like programming but I also like the salary and benefits. I can then use my 5-9 time to do all the other things I like: cooking, working-out, hiking.
That said, I recently founded a startup, where the work is more stressful and the pay is less and I'm hoping for it all to be worth it financially in a few years. This is often not the traditional "Why I founded a company" story you read about hear on HN, but I wonder how common (or misguided) it is.
Re: Do you really want to be making this much money when you're 50?
#7If you're into programmer and not in it for the passion there is a high chance that you're a mediocre programmer.
But indeed that doesnt matter. Because the demand is high.
But for me, this is what drives me: working with an excellent team on a product/service that is heavily used and comes with technical challenges.
If managers, business and bad programmers interfere with this, i'd rather stop and get a decent job.
The money is not the main driver.
Re: Do you really want to be making this much money when you're 50?
#8I've seen all kind of different programmers. The ones that are not in it for the money and the ones that hate their job but won't switch because it has a good pay. It reminded me of this animated movie about 'what motivates us' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc The essence: don't underpay and don't overpay. More and more programmers are looking for good company cultures with a good (but not highest pay). Mon…
Hooray. That is exactly what drives me too. The culture, the people, the actual work is more important.
Working for a huge amount of money in a corporate machinery is a brain killer.
Re: Do you really want to be making this much money when you're 50?
#9If what's described is true: a) Tons of money to be made b) Tons of unmet demand Why the outsourcing market isn't growing as much as it should? There are plenty of places with more than capable programmers which are usually paid in peanuts not only when compared with SV, but when compared to people in the same country. That smells like a niche waiting to be disrupted. He who solves the trust and quality perception an…
The problem with outsourcing is not 'quality perception,' it's the actual quality.
The good programmers around the world command good salaries, whether out-sourced or not.
In the end it doesn't matter whether you're in India or the the US; there are just not that many great programmers around.
Re: Do you really want to be making this much money when you're 50?
#10If you're into programmer and not in it for the passion there is a high chance that you're a mediocre programmer. But indeed that doesnt matter. Because the demand is high. But for me, this is what drives me: working with an excellent team on a product/service that is heavily used and comes with technical challenges. If managers, business and bad programmers interfere with this, i'd rather stop and get a decent job.…
The tricky part is defining passion. I think the key element is that insatiable curiosity that pulls you in when you're doing it. The desire and drive to understand every nuance of a system is what makes it possible to be a good programmer.
In other words, a clock-punching mentality is not enough, but neither is making it your life's mission necessary.