291–300 of 373 posts
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How so? The job situation for good developers has never been better. We can make salaries that would have seemed unthinkable two decades ago while working from home and doing something we enjoy.
This has not been my experience. It seems that it's a young person's game, and us older folks are not particularly encouraged to participate. Frankly, I've been stunned by the way in which I was treated, in the short period of time I spent looking for work, after leaving my last company. Thankfully, I am not required to work, and have been having the best time I could imagine, since giving up on working for others. I…
Had I not tried the self employment route I'd probably have starved to death or had to work at a gas station and then starved. I wasn't really ready for it either but that was the option. I live and breath programming and absolutely love it. I have since I was in my early teens. At this point though it's looking more and more like I'll have to do something else to get by. I actually always did want to be able to work on my own projects, but if I have to work in other fields then that will likely be the end of it. I won't be able to make enough to do anything but work.
I think it's just a hostile field in general at this point.
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I tried it. I figured out I can make a few dollars a minute sitting in front of a computer screen or I can make 0 dollars a minute sitting in front of a computer screen. Those are my two choices. The choice is pretty clear.
You could also make 0 dollars a minute standing on a surf board, hiking in a national park or reading a book. There are a lot of things in life that are more interesting than computers.
(When I was a kid, I'd ski until utter exhaustion and could barely walk. But things don't work like that for the adult me.)
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I know it's the biggest cliche in the world, but the grass isn't always greener on the other side. Lots of musicians wish they had a skill that let them sit at a desk all day and get a stable paycheck. Not saying you have to keep working in tech forever, but I don't think it's objectively stopped being fun and interesting.
I think the “trick” is to find a fulfilling non computer based hobby
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The longer I am in this profession (and it's been over 20 years) the less I see my peers as "dicks and idiots" but more as victims of the same broken game. I work with very smart people, to be honest. It's the technology and the employers and the culture of development that's the problem. Retiring sounds good right about now.
After being an entrepreneur and an independent contractor most of my career (I'm 62), and now finding myself working for a company "rolling up" a bunch of software companies, I will say that the state of employment seems to have gone downhill drastically over my lifetime.
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After being an entrepreneur and an independent contractor most of my career (I'm 62), and now finding myself working for a company "rolling up" a bunch of software companies, I will say that the state of employment seems to have gone downhill drastically over my lifetime.
Could you expand a bit on this? Do you mean the quality of the people in employment has gone downhill or do you mean that equality of life for employees has reduced? Less job security, poorer working conditions etc?
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This has not been my experience. It seems that it's a young person's game, and us older folks are not particularly encouraged to participate. Frankly, I've been stunned by the way in which I was treated, in the short period of time I spent looking for work, after leaving my last company. Thankfully, I am not required to work, and have been having the best time I could imagine, since giving up on working for others. I…
I think it's more hostile than you imagine. I'm quite young and can't even breaj into the industry with a job. I also am not bad. I do well in my interviews (I can feel it and they tell me too), I work on a variety of things and have side projects, I've done well at an internship, etc. It's a mess right now. I'm far from the only one my age struggling this way. Had I not tried the self employment route I'd probably h…
The industry is crazy competitive, right now. This is because of all the money to be made.
This has been both a blessing, and a curse.
One of the big reasons that I am not in a hurry to shack up with some company, is that it can easily make a joy into a horror show.
I would suggest that you learn discipline and structure, just on principle (since the industry doesn’t seem to value it). At least, you will be happy with the work you do, and that is worth more than you can imagine.
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>I'm now trying to decide whether I should attempt a medical degree to become a doctor Have you reviewed how much sleep deprivation would be involved in the path towards being a doctor? It differs depending on the path, but middle-age and lack of sleep may be very hard (source: have multiple surgeons in my near circle). But it is very specific to the path you pick, of course. I am currently trying to see if I can fin…
> Have you reviewed how much sleep deprivation would be involved in the path towards being a doctor? It differs depending on the path, but middle-age and lack of sleep may be very hard (source: have multiple surgeons in my near circle). But it is very specific to the path you pick, of course. Yes, I have. My first career (maybe employment path) was as an enlisted soldier. It took some modification of sleeping pattern…