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Comment by MrSafe | Hacker News Reader

I'm in my mid 20s and this is actually a concern of mine. I love designing and building software systems and I would be happy to build them into my 40s. But people may wonder why I'm forty and still "just a programmer". I hope to have a stable buisness by then and won't have to deal with this problem.

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I'm 41 and programming is more fun for me than ever. Don't worry about people wondering about you; it's worth it. Just make sure you have enough money to give your kids a good education.

I'm going to call this out as an important general principle:

Don't worry about people wondering about you.

Or, as Feynman said, "What do you care what other people think?"

http://www.amazon.com/What-Care-Other-People-Think/dp/B000S3...

Not to scare you but we've turned people away (not me personally, my company) who have stayed at the same position at the same company for the past 20 years without advancing to a more senior position. That doesn't mean they're management, but more that their company didn't feel their input was relevant and they didn't have the drive to find another place where it was. My current co-worker is in his 50's and still doing what he loves but he's been exposed to a ton of different areas and has the resume to prove it (embedded, game, DB, web, you name it.) If you're going to go down this road (I hope to as well) make sure that your experiences are broad, the skills you picked up measurable, and the work performed varied. If not, companies like the one I'm part of will lump you into the "not motivated" category. I've seen the ageism and it's very real.

doesn't feel like ageism, this sounds more like the valuation of confidence. A confident person isn't going to stick around if you don't keep giving him or her promotions.

And you know? not everyone values confidence. I know I don't, mostly because I am very confident myself, to me, having an employee willing to take huge risks is pretty worthless, because you know what? I can do that myself. I want someone smarter than I am. Besides, people who are confident don't stick around very long.

But people may wonder why I'm forty and still "just a programmer".

I'm 54 and "just a programmer". A few thoughts:

- I've done all the other jobs. Now I'm doing what I love best.

- There has never been a better time to be a programmer. I can't imagine doing anything else right now.

- I'm on the critical path. Of all the things I could be doing, programming is where I'm needed most. It's much easier to find people to do all those other things that to build the software. (Not a judgement, just an observation based upon many instances of supporting data.)

- I don't care what other people think.

- If I did care what other people thought, I'd just tell them that I don't remember the last time my boss made as much as me. That usually shuts them up.

I'm 31 and this is refreshing to hear, however my concern is not so much what other people think as it is job security. My perspective is that by the time I'm 40 I want to have a solid nest egg, and by the time I'm 50 I want to have my fuck-you money, and only then do I only feel secure being a programmer/creative for the rest of my life. Otherwise I feel like I better bone up on management skills to hedge my bets against age discrimination in my 50s and 60s.

I agree with edw519.

I have been programming for nearly 44 years. I have done a little bit of management during that time, and I can assure you that spending much time as a manager will erode your programming skills.

In many contexts, managers are more expendable than programmers. in fact, these days, apparently more than ever, highly talented programmers are hard to find at any level. Managers are a dime a dozen, and can get whacked just as easily as anyone.

I'm in the same boat with you. I love to ship a software product (doesn't matter if it's web/desktop/mobile app). I would be happy if I could churn out 1 solid app every 2-3 years with one or two long-term apps.

I did have that nagging feeling about being old and "still a programmer" or some sort, like I was going to stuck in my career path... but then again, some people are meant to be like that so I decided not to worry about what would happen in 10 years and move forward.

Besides, Linus is technically still a programmer :).

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