The Developer's Dystopian Future

Do you exercise?

I ask because, the time you exercise is time you don't end up spending with family but you do it because 1. you know its good for your body 2. you know that exercising each day will allow you to spend more time with your family, in the long run 3. its accepted by society because it keeps you healthy.

Similarly, while its not yet as accepted by society, exercising your mind should be a priority. You don't have to be learning new tech trends necessarily, but do keep learning. If you can just keep your neuroplasticity high, ie make sure, no matter your age, when you try to learn something that it comes naturally. 1. It will allow you to comprehend more of the time you spend with your family, in the long run. 2. I would argue, it might even allow you to better bond with them if you're more willing to learn the things they like. 3. If and when you need to learn the current tech trend, this "muscle" you've kept healthy should lend you to being able to do so relatively easily.

For good reason society/family/yourself have put so many negative connotations on "working too much", but what most people don't get is this isn't working, its learning. This is staying healthy. Everyone understands staying healthy.

Long story short, if you're already dedicating time to your health, don't neglect your brain.

So I'm in the 40+ crowd, and things are different from when I was a 20-something. But learning new stuff isn't a problem. I pulled Angular into the new project I'm building at work. I've moved from C to C++ to Java to Python and am now playing with Racket (Python generators have nothing on define-syntax :).

My point is not to say I'm better than the author. I'm nothing special. My point is that there isn't a magical end-of-life for developers. Learning changes. Interests change. Priorities change. Nothing to be afraid of.

And there are positives: I'm much better at prioritizing. I don't waste my time on "the next hotness" just to watch it tank in obscurity three months later. I'm good at understanding what infrastructure is important and what isn't. My hunches have gotten better.

What scares me about this post has nothing to do with the author. I worry more about it propagating the myth that developers have a limited lifespan, that they expire. That's a falsehood that needs to die.

Is it ageism? Or is it just experience?

If you've been in the industry for 10+ years, there's a certain cynicism that occurs, when you're learning a new framework/language every 2 years that's just an incremental improvement on another language.

Just because a boss tells you to. "Oh learn this, it's gonna be the next big thing. It's gonna propel your career. Oh, you're done with that? Now, learn this new thing for your next project. 3 months later.. OK, forget that, we're switching frameworks. Learn this now."

Shorter version:

David Bowie