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Programmers are 40 years old, should they retire

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Programmers are 40 years old, should they retire

#11

Post by shrimp_emoji »

MrGuts wrote: post #9

Are you joking? I was first hired as a software dev at age 57. People over age 40 have a secret superpower. It's called "attention span" Find out what industries and dev stacks are prevalent in your area. Work the meet-ups: show up, knock back a few beers, ask questions, find out who's doing what. Consider getting up to speed on an alternate dev stack, if need be. Another secret: 80% of hires are done end-run around…

I didn't read the whole comment, but it made me feel very optimistic and good. <33

Re: Programmers are 40 years old, should they retire

#13

Post by JC770 »

MrGuts wrote: post #9

Are you joking? I was first hired as a software dev at age 57. People over age 40 have a secret superpower. It's called "attention span" Find out what industries and dev stacks are prevalent in your area. Work the meet-ups: show up, knock back a few beers, ask questions, find out who's doing what. Consider getting up to speed on an alternate dev stack, if need be. Another secret: 80% of hires are done end-run around…

Your feedback encouraged me, thank you!

Re: Programmers are 40 years old, should they retire

#14

Post by JC770 »

tornato7 wrote: post #2

I've worked with many excellent programmers over 40, some over 70. You might want to look for companies that are run by older folk, and maybe in more established companies. Anecdotally, I haven't seen a lot of 40+ engineers in Silicon Valley, but here in San Diego I've never met a Qualcomm engineer under 40. Maybe geography has something to do with it.

Perhaps my expectations are too high, or there are issues with my interview skills. I think I need to improve on these

Re: Programmers are 40 years old, should they retire

#15

Post by JC770 »

simonblack wrote: post #10

Retire from companies, or retire from programming? Many of us face changes in our 40s and we think that 'My life is over at 40. How ever will I start again?'. Quite often those changes are for the best. You may meet the love of your life when you finally part from your first wife. You may find the best programming company in the world when you finally leave that first dead-end job. It all depends on your point of vie…

But now I program for myself, not a boss.

This is the best state, I hope to earn enough money before the age of 55 and have the same state as you

Re: Programmers are 40 years old, should they retire

#16

Post by JC770 »

quantified wrote: post #6

Some do. Every one I've been hired to for the last 15 years certainly does, even series-B startups. I can't opine on what works and doesn't for finding a match, but trust me there are enough. The hiring process usually sucks, you'll need to do Leetcode because people don't know any better.

In the past two years, I have been hesitant to accept opportunities from startups, as they have always been prone to bankruptcy.
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