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Comment by jgrahamc | Hacker News Reader

In short, yes, and I'm in my 40s.

I actually returned to programming after years managing programmers in part because I was unhappy. I realized that the further I got from the machine and _making_ the less happy I was.

So, if you asked me whether I wanted to be 'managing' at 50, I'd say "Hell, no!".

The enjoyment of making things work, learning and shipping it real. I hope I'm still able to feel those things at 80. I never got the same satisfaction and enjoyment from managing people and processes.

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I don't think this is about "programming" versus "managing".

It's about "actual problem solving, and building things" (which is good and enjoyable at any age) versus "navigating oceans of constantly changing APIs" and getting bitten by minuscule oversights in enormous volumes of documentation, which requires a lot of stamina, and maybe optimism, that you have less of as you get older.

I hate arcane APIs with a passion. I love programming and building things. Always have, always will.

I think one's tastes don't change much with age; what changes is your willingness to put up with things you don't like. Like a grumpy old uncle who says inappropriate things at family reunions, at some point in your life you just stop pretending.

I often see aged programmers are more tolerant with things they dont like,as they know most jobs are just boring from their years of working experience. Lots of them think job is just for paying the bill.

32 here, and so far programming is the best thing I've ever done in life. The stress I've experienced has all emerged from my own expectations of myself, from wanting to excel.

My mother is in her late fifties and recently returned to working in a children's daycare after being a manager for many years because working with children was what she was passionate about, and she realised she had advanced away from what made her want to go to work.

I feel the same way about moving away from programming - what I enjoy is digging my hands deep into the rich code, smelling the mix of coffee and ozone, feeling the flourescent glare burn into my retinas - THAT is what makes life worth living!

What is it with fluorescent light and programmers? I left a gig specifically because of a mid-afternoon fluorescent hum that was soul sucking. Decent light and a good ergonomic work environment are so important.

In this case I was primarily thinking of flourescent light from an LCD screen (would have mentioned CRTs, but that would have dated me a bit TOO much), but I agree completely about the life-killing quality of shitty overhead flourescent lamps. Sadly, the office I'm in right now is afflicted, although it mainly means that the ceiling lamps stay turned off and floor lamps are used instead.

Similar here, in my 40's and I must admit I also struggle with the management divide. However, I'm lucky that I work in a small company so I get to do a variety of work. I also have a lot of domain knowledge (medical imaging) which means I need to be engaged at a technical level. However, even when I'm working on strategic planning or market analysis I also manage to find a "reason" to write some little program to process data rather than just put it in Excel or hack up script to create a Gantt chart rather than use MS Project.

I guess you can take the boy out of coding, but you can't take the coding out of the boy!

Similar experience here - the more "managerial" my job was the more miserable I became.

So I now have a reasonably high level job with a lot of variety but I usually spend a couple of days a week developing stuff - altogether not a bad combination for me. I do manage some people but as they are all smarter than me and very self directed it is actually a pleasure to do.

[NB By far the most stressful job I had was as co-founder and CTO of a VC funded startup]

I'm with you, I'm rounding 40 myself, and was not happy for the brief couple years of management.

When filling out a 'secret question' for some site, it ask what your ideal job would be. I didn't even blink, it was: developer.

Do I want to be doing this when I'm 50, hells yea.

If I had trillions of dollars, I would still code. It's who I am, it's what makes me happy. If you don't think you'll like development at 50, then you may have picked the wrong career.

Same here. I am interested in some process stuff, because processes can be "solved" in a similar way to computer problems. But I actively enjoy this kind of thing, and I hope to carry on doing so.

Its nice to know the grass is greener on my side of the fence..

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