61–70 of 326 posts
More than likely, the answer to the question, "where are the developers with 20 years experience?" The answer is, "the same place they were 10 years ago."
Earlier quoted context omitted.
both of those routes is boring - which route involve working in "the trenches", whilst still getting paid management level salaries? Don't say startup because that's just money earned on risk-taking, not guaranteed payment like a salary.
which route involve working in "the trenches", whilst still getting paid management level salaries? The engineering track at AmaGooBookSoft. You'll earn +/- $200k a year mid-career and have roughly zero market or execution risk. There exist many options if you're willing to take more than a W-2 employee level of risk. (e.g. Found a boutique consultancy. Redirect the conversation when your W-2 friends ask what your we…
59, programming for 42 years, the last 35 professionally. Here on HN for 7.5 years. I've always been very busy (one of the main reasons I don't post on HN as much any more). I don't have a resume. I'm not on LinkedIn. If I ever ran low on work, it would probably take me a day or two and a few phone calls to find something. I don't work on anything unless I find it incredibly compelling. I write applications. I've see…
>>75% - one year's experience 30 times, not 30 years experience. You don't want these people. You are basically saying 75% of the developers after certain age are useless. I don't agree or disagree with your statement . Just startled. What does it say about software development as a career ? Would you say the same thing for lawyers or doctors with 30 years experience? This is depressing.
You also could uncharitably argue that 75% of developers of any age are useless. Furthermore programming has a much lower barrier to entry than being a doctor or lawyer and it's much easier for a terrible programmer to hide their terribleness for 30 years than it is for a doctor or lawyer.
That's because programming is an entry level job. No, I'm not trolling: I'm quite serious about that. Engineering has almost always been an entry level job; computers or not. You start as an engineer; and as you get better, the number of engineering management jobs is pretty limited, so there's nowhere to go for the vast majority of people. But you get pulled into enough internal projects you start to develop a bit o…
I agree with this 100%. Good engineers are problem solvers, and as you grow older, you gain the wisdom that relative to the value that you bring to a business, the compensation will never match. It's unfortunate when you see younger software engineers who are incredibly smart technically and dedicated, but don't apply those same problem solving skills to their career. They become exploitable, and wind up making other…
An MBA and a CS degree are a powerful combination. In fact, if there were more engineers with MBAs, I doubt the MBA would have a reputation for being somewhat clueless about practical matters.
59, programming for 42 years, the last 35 professionally. Here on HN for 7.5 years. I've always been very busy (one of the main reasons I don't post on HN as much any more). I don't have a resume. I'm not on LinkedIn. If I ever ran low on work, it would probably take me a day or two and a few phone calls to find something. I don't work on anything unless I find it incredibly compelling. I write applications. I've see…
>>75% - one year's experience 30 times, not 30 years experience. You don't want these people. You are basically saying 75% of the developers after certain age are useless. I don't agree or disagree with your statement . Just startled. What does it say about software development as a career ? Would you say the same thing for lawyers or doctors with 30 years experience? This is depressing.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>>75% - one year's experience 30 times, not 30 years experience. You don't want these people. You are basically saying 75% of the developers after certain age are useless. I don't agree or disagree with your statement . Just startled. What does it say about software development as a career ? Would you say the same thing for lawyers or doctors with 30 years experience? This is depressing.
Lawyers and doctors are not too different.The premise is true for most of white collar jobs, if not all.
If you don't have passion for something you'll never be truly good at it.
59, programming for 42 years, the last 35 professionally. Here on HN for 7.5 years. I've always been very busy (one of the main reasons I don't post on HN as much any more). I don't have a resume. I'm not on LinkedIn. If I ever ran low on work, it would probably take me a day or two and a few phone calls to find something. I don't work on anything unless I find it incredibly compelling. I write applications. I've see…
I think no one is like Ed. There maybe be 25% of programmers that have a long standing experience, even with the new tools, but they don't share wisdom like Ed does. Ed why can't you have your own company? Why can't you be the one who is hiring or at least teach others how to hire. I bet you can smell a talent from 1000 miles away - even if someone did not finish a good school; the world of software engineering would…
1. He doesn't take a job unless it's challenging. They don't post on HN or go to conferences because they are busy with so much work and life (hence no wisdom sharing).
2. If he is a freelancer (which his post makes him sound like), than he does own his own company. It's just not a software startup looking for VC or articles in big magazines.
3. He's not hiring because he wants to program, not do HR. Also, Michael Jordan can't pick players for shit and he's the best BB player in history. Skill in a job doesn't mean you can find talent, and the level that he would jump and say a person has talent is probably the level where said person doesn't need recognition to know their skill.
4. If a team does a good job outlining job requirements and interviewing, they too can smell talent from 1000 miles away. But interviewing every applicant with a 2.0GPA from a bottom tier school takes a lot of time and most often does not reveal a hidden gem. Regardless of what their potential is.
That's because programming is an entry level job. No, I'm not trolling: I'm quite serious about that. Engineering has almost always been an entry level job; computers or not. You start as an engineer; and as you get better, the number of engineering management jobs is pretty limited, so there's nowhere to go for the vast majority of people. But you get pulled into enough internal projects you start to develop a bit o…