<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small">I've had different experience - still getting paid to write code after all these years<br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Apr 12, 2015 at 10:55 AM, DJ-Pfulio <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:DJPfulio@jdpfu.com" target="_blank">DJPfulio@jdpfu.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">On 04/12/2015 09:34 AM, Atlanta Geek wrote:<br>
> Im well into my 40s and am finding that I am normally the oldest developer in my<br>
> team. Im not sure how this happened or when this happened (that 7 year stint at<br>
> a company I got too comfortable at was like a time warp.) I also came across<br>
> this article:<br>
> <a href="http://improvingsoftware.com/2009/05/19/programmers-before-you-turn-40-get-a-plan-b/" target="_blank">http://improvingsoftware.com/2009/05/19/programmers-before-you-turn-40-get-a-plan-b/</a><br>
><br>
> So where have all the 90s developers gone. Cause there was a lot of us.<br>
><br>
<br>
For me, programming was an entry level job.<br>
<br>
I suppose I was slightly above average in skill - still making design mistakes<br>
after a decade. Out of the 100 of so programmers I've worked with directly over<br>
the years, only 5 or so were true "artists." So with those numbers as<br>
estimates, 5% are really great and should program for their entire lives. 95%<br>
use it to launch into other careers ... like brew-masters, bicycle shop owners,<br>
and even technical architects.<br>
<br>
IME, very few become system admins come from a programming background. The<br>
devops people seem to be more programmers, but didn't learn system<br>
administration, so they make the same old mistakes. But they aren't hampered by<br>
old-school knowledge either.<br>
<br>
Perhaps if I'd found a programming job that paid as much as being an architect,<br>
I would have stayed programming? Money can make people change jobs. After being<br>
a software architect AND coding for a few years, i was moved into a technical<br>
manager role and hated it. No more coding. Days spent prioritizing features and<br>
bug fixes for my team sucked. Moved into systems architecture after a job<br>
change and got lots of training on hardware from all the popular vendors. My<br>
income grew. Few software jobs pay that kind of money. Very few.<br>
<br>
Retired now. Haven't written any C/C++ in about 15 yrs, beyond a few hello-world<br>
things. I've played with RoR, Python, Perl, bash, Go, even Android-Java.<br>
<br>
Still write a little perl - usually on the back-end service side - REST stuff,<br>
but with minimal GUIs too. Occasionally, I'll hack some small glue together too<br>
- for automation.<br>
<br>
For me, programming was an entry level job. Where have all the old programmers<br>
gone? Everywhere except to other programming jobs.<br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">Pete Hardie<br>--------<br>Better Living Through Bitmaps</div>
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