Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or you enjoy what you're doing. I've had "director" or "head of" or similar in my titles for the majority of the last 20 years, but I keep finding excuses to code because it's what I enjoy doing the most. Whenever my job responsibilities doesn't let me code, I spend more time coding at home. I'm 40 now, and I can't see that changing. I first started programming when I was 5 years old, and it's an integral, important…
Of course you still program, but your job title on that MIT gathering wouldn't have been 'programmer'.
MIT alumni in their 50s
81–90 of 159 posts
Re: MIT alumni in their 50s
#82Beyond the the ~7year business cycle, career stability in Medicine vs. Engineering is subject to long-term trends.
For the current 50 year old cohort, the end of the cold war has to be the most relevant factor in the opportunities available to them. There's nothing like a bunch of missile projects to get MIT-er's some work.
The spending rate on US healthcare is probably not sustainable over the next thirty years, and many physicians could see Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements plummet. In short this observation of career disparity could be reversed after several decades of unforeseeable future occurring.
Re: MIT alumni in their 50s
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
I double-majored in chemistry and math. I remember talking to a few of my chemistry professors and finding that they missed actual lab work; managing their research labs, getting grants, etc. was a full time job. This wasn't true of the math professors; they actually had the time to do the research instead of just supervising graduate students.
I should be cleared about the use of the term "Professor" in a UK university compared to the US - in the department I worked in that had maybe 50 lecturing staff (i.e. full time permanent academic staff) and 6 or 7 people at the level of Professor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_ranks_in_the_United_Ki...
That's a good point. Like most Americans I forgot about the US/UK difference in nomenclature. I'd think the problem would only be bigger for UK "Professors" than for US "Professors" because UK Professors are more senior by definition.
Re: MIT alumni in their 50s
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or you enjoy what you're doing. I've had "director" or "head of" or similar in my titles for the majority of the last 20 years, but I keep finding excuses to code because it's what I enjoy doing the most. Whenever my job responsibilities doesn't let me code, I spend more time coding at home. I'm 40 now, and I can't see that changing. I first started programming when I was 5 years old, and it's an integral, important…
Of course you still program, but your job title on that MIT gathering wouldn't have been 'programmer'.
Part of my point is that personally I would describe myself as a programmer first.
Those titles for me has been a means to a higher salary, not something that defines me, and often not something that have defined my roles very well. Despite being "technical director" at present, I spend most of my time on architecture and devops.
But if you care less about the money, then staying in a pure developer role saves you the aggravation, and I know many people who have opted to refuse to be promoted into management positions because what they enjoy doing is the programming and they've been less willing than me to take the titles and find ways to program anyway.
I've personally offered people management positions more than once and had them turn it down for that reason. Including people above 50.
Re: MIT alumni in their 50s
#85That dude's got a lot of weird bleep-blorp does not compute opinions about human nature.
He is one of the founding generation of technolibertarians.
Re: MIT alumni in their 50s
#86I can't imagine a programmer making enough $$ to be able to show up at an event where the main goal is donation. Granted some did show up. Let's list the careers that were still considered safe age 50. Doctor. Lawyer. Professor. All important, no doubt. But which one of those truly helped advance our society or nation? As in improving GDP or trade balance? Most likely not. But the other engineers (some with uncertain…
Software engineers can also take pride in the fact that any career success we achieve is the result of the value we produce, and is not just due to regulatory/structural limitations reducing the number of competitors in our field.
or due to how well you can 45-minute-puzzler your way into a butt warming a seat at a bigco.
Re: MIT alumni in their 50s
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
What?? Are you serious? Why would programming be different from other activities/occupations? "Oh, this guy is still operating after 3 decades and never became a hospital director. Something's wrong with the guy."
When you're my age, you'll know what I mean. If your job title still reads 'programmer' or 'developer', rather than 'architect' or 'chief/lead/head of-'etc , something has gone wrong.
Or something went very right and you found something you really loved to do. Personally I kind-of wish I'd have gone that route and not had to deal with all the management bullshit that I've spent time on over the years.
Re: MIT alumni in their 50s
#88Perhaps the insight here is that neither law nor medicine is advancing fast enough?
Re: MIT alumni in their 50s
#89"There was a slight selection bias in that all those present were people whom an on-campus group was hoping to get donations from."
Slight?
Re: MIT alumni in their 50s
#90Dave Winer's response: http://liveblog.co/users/davewiner/2015/05/06/iWouldHaveHire...