Slashdot Mirror
Tech Or Management Beyond Age 39?
relliker writes "So here I am at age 39 with two contractual possibilities, for practically the same pay. With one, I continue being a techie for the foreseeable future — always having to keep myself up-to-date on everything tech and re-inventing myself with each Web.x release to stay on top. With the other, I'm being offered a chance to get into management, something I also enjoy doing and am seriously considering for the rest of my working life. The issue here is the age of my grey matter. Will I still be employable in tech at this age and beyond? Or should I relinquish the struggle to keep up with progress and take the comfy 'old man' management route so that I can stay employable even in my twilight years? What would Slashdot veterans advise at this age?"
You have to know tech either way, whether you continue to be in tech or go in to management
I want to work where you do. My company hires management based on management experience, not experience in the field I work in. Then they quit after two months because they don't know what's going on and all the working stiffs are making fun of them. Hire new manager, rinse, and repeat.
My sister opened a computer store in Hawaii. She sells C shells by the seashore.
It's a matter of your complete competency. Techies and management alike can get promoted with appropriate pay with most modern, small or large companies. I am 54 and have elected to spin the consulting trail. I did so out of need after 911 shut the doors down on many opportunities in 2001. Started on the consulting trail only to find that it works. I did not want to be a JAVA developer driving a cab. Bright nimble minds with the ability to traverse the political IT jungle will always be in the loop. Age means nothing.
I have had lots of coworkers over 50 who are software or hardware engineers. And they are all great engineers. Some of them work full time, some run their own consultant companies.
If you enjoy management, then the choice is pretty easy. Short term the pay is the same, but generally the limit for a tech guy is principle engineer, which is a director level position at pretty much any company. Beyond that you can only move "up" to CTO, where you usually don't get any salary and have to make due with stock options and selling your share of the company. In management you can move into a VP role, although it helps a great deal if you get an MBA. Without an MBA you probably can't easily rise past a director anyways. You're age is pretty "average" for people starting for an MBA, so it's not entirely out of the question if you have some long-term career plans.
It is especially important to consider your long term path when you have another 15-25 years of career left to complete.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Being 39 doesn't make you 'too old for tech'... being lazy, unwilling to change, inexperienced and out of touch does.
Sometimes slashdot has comments that are based on common sense! Last year I found a web job. 15 people were interviewed before me. Many were in their 20s. I am 54...
realkiwi