What to do when you can no longer code? | Hacker News Reader

What to do when you can no longer code?

2 pointsslijmjim3 comments

I'm a 49 yr old dev of 25+ years that's recently developed osteoarthritis in my fingers. I've somehow managed to avoid the management route in my career (tech-lead of a small team of 5 being about the most manage-y thing I've done so far) as my real passion is in the creative side of software development. As I get closer to 50 and the arthritis flares get worse I've started to realise that I'm not going to be able to keep doing what I do until I retire and instead I'm going to have to find something that doesn't require so much typing. So my question is this: without going into management, what interesting career paths have you come across in the software industry that don't involve a lot of typing but still allow you to contribute to the creative, problem-solving process?

You don't necessarily have to stop coding. Various technologies such as voice recognition systems developed for users with disabilities exist and, with advancements in algorithms and the overabundance of processing power available on modern hardware, are much more capable than they were before. Businesses are also generally more receptive to accommodating employees with disabilities than they were in the past.

To address an uncomfortable point, yes, such systems are more awkward to use than typing and you may hate to have to use them and be unhappy to compare yourself against what you used to be able to do and what your peers remain able to do. I can only say, having a disability myself, that becoming disabled does indeed suck and that it may be of some small comfort to remember that everyone eventually becomes disabled by the progression of age.

The writing of actual code in my experience isn't usually the most creative part of the process. It's the path leading up to the point where you actually start typing code; the translation between business goals and technical solution that requires creativity and ingenuity.

Especially in a team I can see a lot of added value from someone with a lot of experience during this proces. Documenting the outcome of that creative process is easily done with text-to-speech software.

Solutions Architect?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com