I would join a union that lobbied against, say, overreaching non-compete agreements and against age discrimination (a big problem in this industry).
But the life of a programmer is typically not so bad to start with.
But the life of a programmer is typically not so bad to start with.
Besides that, I have to ask how long this collective experience of programmers enjoying happy lives will last. My general observation is that the accepted value of that labor is cheapening rapidly, whether from scarcity of jobs, glut of available talent, or the general difficulties in remaining competitive when the skillset is often globally portable.
My friend who basically left his engineering field to make more money cleaning pools strikes me as a demonstrative example.