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Ask HN: Programmers Above 50, Is It Possible to Have a Career Past Your 50s?

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Re: Ask HN: Programmers Above 50, Is It Possible to Have a Career Past Your 50s?

#31

Post by vonmoltke »

coldcode wrote: post #9
dhoerl wrote: post #3

I'm 64 and doing iOS development full time, and get hit on by recruiters all the time, so I guess the answer is yes. But you will find huge negative bias due to age (many companies desperate for iOS talent will ignore you - ask me how I know this.)

I'm 57 and doing iOS but yeah, I think some people want to ignore you if your resume is too long thinking you are making it all up. But I am in the DFW area which is basically a Silicon Black Hole for programmers anyway.

> I am in the DFW area which is basically a Silicon Black Hole for programmers anyway

So it's not just me. :P

I'm only 35, BTW, so my resume is probably not quite as long as yours. I have thought about dropping my publication credits and shortening it back to one page, though.

Re: Ask HN: Programmers Above 50, Is It Possible to Have a Career Past Your 50s?

#32

Post by brlewis »

_throwaway_away wrote: post #25

I don't know, i have sent perhaps 25 or so applications during last few years for various remote Frond-End positions. I'm very-very good and i like what I'm doing, thank you very much. My happy day is when I receive automated rejecting letter, that happens in 10% of cases. In other cases, silence. I have failed to score a single interview. And I'm 50 :-) I guess i need to hold on of my current and boring job for as l…

I'm curious how this compares to younger remote front-end applicants. My company doesn't hire remote. I wonder if competition is higher for remote positions.

Re: Ask HN: Programmers Above 50, Is It Possible to Have a Career Past Your 50s?

#33

Post by vonmoltke »

kabdib wrote: post #28

I'm 54. Got my current job when I was 52 (prior to that, 11 years at Microsoft). I think if you're not over-specialized that you can still do well. Doing be a person who just writes device drivers, or just does web stuff, or just writes toolchains. Do it all, and at depth when you can. I tend to get into projects that are 2-3 years in scope and involve actually shipping new technologies at consumer scale. This will t…

> I think if you're not over-specialized that you can still do well. Doing be a person who just writes device drivers, or just does web stuff, or just writes toolchains. Do it all, and at depth when you can.

When reviewing job reqs, I see the opposite. Outside the web and mobile arenas, companies seem to want people who are highly specialized in what they do.

Re: Ask HN: Programmers Above 50, Is It Possible to Have a Career Past Your 50s?

#34

Post by thrwwy457 »

Speaking from experience... It's not easy getting a programming job after 50, after programming my whole career. The dating analogy applies, as usual. (Job is to old as date is to unattractive.) Yes, you can get a date if you are unattractive, it's just not as easy. You have to work harder, and/or have something special to offer.

Re: Ask HN: Programmers Above 50, Is It Possible to Have a Career Past Your 50s?

#35

Post by mattlutze »

vonmoltke wrote: post #27
fecak wrote: post #16

I'm in my early 40's, but I've recruited software engineers for almost 20 years and I until recently I ran a large Java Users Group over 15 years, which gave me quite a bit of exposure to an older range of engineers. I know many 50+ programmers who are doing quite well (monetarily, respect, responsibility, balance). Some independent consultants, some at startups, some with big firms, etc. A fairly wide variety. Not a…

Why is tenure at one company automatically assumed to be tenure at one job ? I used to work for a major defense contractor. For every engineer there who spent nearly their entire careers in a particular role on a particular program there was another who spent 20+ years moving from program to program, often as a sort of internal consultant. I would honestly put that latter person ahead of both the former and the perso…

I'd agree -- the outs for a mediocre developer are sticking in the same position, on a legacy product, for years where they won't be noticed, or moving to a new job after they've settled in but before they reach the apex of showing off their skills.

Being able to build a career moving between projects in a large firm, where your reputation is always right next to you, would be quite a bit more challenging for the mediocre developer.

Re: Ask HN: Programmers Above 50, Is It Possible to Have a Career Past Your 50s?

#36

Post by monkeyprojects »

frostmatthew wrote: post #8
smt88 wrote: post #4

There tends to be a lot more money in management, consulting, and other areas that don't require daily coding. I've heard many non-technical people say that if you're still coding after ~35, you must be lacking important people skills. I don't agree with that kind of generalization, but it seems to be a common viewpoint. The major problem for older programmers is that people believe that the ability to learn decrease…

> I've heard many non-technical people say that if you're still coding after ~35, you must be lacking important people skills. I don't agree with that kind of generalization, but it seems to be a common viewpoint. I've never understood that viewpoint either - nobody ever says "if you're still a doctor or lawyer after age X you must be lacking Y"

The answer to that as some one past 35 is that I code because I like to know I produced / created something.

Testing - Just confirms it works PM - Just ensured its delivered Programmer - I did that....

Yes I could earn more money as a PM but I'm happy with what I get attached to the sense of achievement of "I created that".

Re: Ask HN: Programmers Above 50, Is It Possible to Have a Career Past Your 50s?

#37

Post by ChicagoDave »

I'm 51 and have had a programming, analyst, or architect position since 1985 give or take a few dry spells. I've been independent in Chicago for 18 years and outside of the .com bust and the recession, it's been pretty good.

The one truism is change and you absolutely must follow the trends. When web work migrated from monolithic stacks like ASP.NET to front-end smorgasbords based on JavaScript, I had to learn a lot of JavaScript frameworks. This was not easy on my psyche or my personal life, but the work paid off and I'm still employable.

I think living in a diverse economic area like Chicago helps. Chicago has finance, healthcare, travel, food service, consulting, and a very healthy entrepreneurial community.

And most importantly, I still like what I do for a living. I'd certainly trade it for other things (I'm not fond of sitting all day anymore), but as careers go, I feel pretty lucky.

Re: Ask HN: Programmers Above 50, Is It Possible to Have a Career Past Your 50s?

#39

Post by ghaff »

vonmoltke wrote: post #27
fecak wrote: post #16

I'm in my early 40's, but I've recruited software engineers for almost 20 years and I until recently I ran a large Java Users Group over 15 years, which gave me quite a bit of exposure to an older range of engineers. I know many 50+ programmers who are doing quite well (monetarily, respect, responsibility, balance). Some independent consultants, some at startups, some with big firms, etc. A fairly wide variety. Not a…

Why is tenure at one company automatically assumed to be tenure at one job ? I used to work for a major defense contractor. For every engineer there who spent nearly their entire careers in a particular role on a particular program there was another who spent 20+ years moving from program to program, often as a sort of internal consultant. I would honestly put that latter person ahead of both the former and the perso…

As the parent suggested, I think there is a certain assumption that--even if they've had different roles within a company--they've become so immersed in a particular culture and worldview that they're less valuable than someone who has a more diverse set of experience. That said, if someone has moved around every 2-3 years, especially outside of startup environments, that's something of a flag too.

Re: Ask HN: Programmers Above 50, Is It Possible to Have a Career Past Your 50s?

#40

Post by ChicagoDave »

_throwaway_away wrote: post #25

I don't know, i have sent perhaps 25 or so applications during last few years for various remote Frond-End positions. I'm very-very good and i like what I'm doing, thank you very much. My happy day is when I receive automated rejecting letter, that happens in 10% of cases. In other cases, silence. I have failed to score a single interview. And I'm 50 :-) I guess i need to hold on of my current and boring job for as l…

You need to go where the jobs are or work really hard on Elance. Remote jobs are mostly still a luxury.
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