Unsurprising really - most older programmers I know are fed up with solving the same problems over and over again with whatever the new technology happens to be. After a while, writing what amounts to CRUD by and large is pretty dull.
I'm an "older" programmer and I love doing basic CRUD for work. Largely because it can pay very well, is reasonably hard to get wrong (= happy management = renewed contracts = happy me) and takes very little of my limited brain power.
If I want risky projects that might be spectacular failures, I'll do them in my spare time -- I really don't want those in front of the people signing my pay cheques...
When you are young, you can make risky bets with your retirement investments; not so much when you are older when you should be preferring safer bets instead.
I would think that the same is true with career management, especially after you 30 something and have a family to worry about.
But to be honest, the amount of age discrimination in our industry has me really scared about getting older.
"Older" programmer here (I'm 46). I disagree. We're not solving the same problem over and over (at least not where I've been working). It's the opposite - once you've solved a problem with code, you can reuse it. Sure, it doesn't work out perfectly, but for the most part, it's new stuff.
I've been programming for > 20 years, and I still love what I'm doing. A big part of that is being able to create new things every day. Fred Brooks wrote very eloquently about "The Joys of the Craft" in the book "The Mythical Man-Month". My comments/take on it: http://henrikwarne.com/2012/06/02/why-i-love-coding/
55 here, writing iOS apps currently and still enjoying it. I still maintain a programming blog and continue to learn new stuff at a faster pace than I did when I started. Everything I do is something new.
zimpenfish|13 years ago
If I want risky projects that might be spectacular failures, I'll do them in my spare time -- I really don't want those in front of the people signing my pay cheques...
seanmcdirmid|13 years ago
I would think that the same is true with career management, especially after you 30 something and have a family to worry about.
But to be honest, the amount of age discrimination in our industry has me really scared about getting older.
henrik_w|13 years ago
I've been programming for > 20 years, and I still love what I'm doing. A big part of that is being able to create new things every day. Fred Brooks wrote very eloquently about "The Joys of the Craft" in the book "The Mythical Man-Month". My comments/take on it: http://henrikwarne.com/2012/06/02/why-i-love-coding/
coldcode|13 years ago
henrik_w|13 years ago