Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: IT Career Path After 35?
An anonymous reader writes "All my friends seem to be moving towards a managerial role, and I'm concerned about my increasing age in a business where, according to some, 30 might as well be 50. But I still feel young, and feel like I have so much to learn. So many interesting technical challenges cross my path, as I manage to move towards larger and more complex projects. I am in higher demand than ever, often with multiple headhunters contacting me in the same day. But will it last? Is age discrimination a myth? Are there statistics on how many IT people move into management? I know some older programmers who got bored with management and successfully resumed a tech-only career. Others started their own small business. What has been your experience? Do you/have you assumed a managerial role? Did you enjoy it? Have you managed to stay current and marketable long after 35?"
The companies that discriminate on age are not the ones you want to work for.
There are plenty of companies out there that appreciate the older worker has more experience and is willing to pay for that. Probably not startups but who cares?
Myself, I'm in my early 40s and run my own little consultancy and life is pretty good with no end of decent clients in sight just yet.
--- "We've always been at war with Eastasia."
I'm 52, and still programming. Not planning on stopping any time soon.
...
Keeping up with current trends is a must. My strengths are knowledge of C++, system programming, and the ability to work in large complex systems.
There are a lot of things I've learned, that are valuable, and not taught anymore.
A be reason for the age issue is younger workers in general tend to be cheaper. But then again, sometimes you get what you pay for
My IT career didn't even *start* until I was 32 or 33, it's 20 years later now... and I'm doing just fine, thanks.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Really?
Things that make me run away (as a guy in his late 30s with a successful software development career so far):
1. Organisations that don't value skill and experience and instead only want to hire young (== cheap) people
2. Organisations that assume older and more experienced developers can't use new technologies (!= choose not to use some new technologies, because they're smart enough to see through the hype and prefer to rely on tried and tested tools instead)
3. Organisations that rely on buzzwords or certificates for hiring (== you get to work with the kind of people who rely on buzzwords and certificates to get hired)
4. Organisations that expect you not to have a fair work/life balance (== it's not whether or not you have a family that we really care about, we just want people to put in crazy hours for no money, almost certainly because we're incompetent at management and don't realise this strategy rarely succeeds anyway)
Just avoid those four warning signs and there is plenty of work out there if you're an older programmer who is any good (== you have N years of experience and the skill of a senior developer, not the same 1 year of experience N times and still the skill level of a junior developer).
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
It sucks, but certifications are a way of demonstrating that you have enough commitment to the field to get them.
It's really sad, but it's true.
I exited a large multinational corporation with a senior title, but no certifications simply because in my career path they were never needed (I moved up inside the company, with people knowing who I am and what I can do). Now it bites me. Especially because most of them are basically scams: They're crazy expensive, but they don't test any actual expertise, just your ability to memorize the correct answers from the study documents, and convince your boss to put his signature under the "yes, he's doing this thing for the past X years" paper.
But sadly, while they don't open any doors to places you want to work in, their absence can close doors that you want to stay open.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
I became a video game tester and a lead tester at Accolade/Infogrames/Atari (same company, different owners, multiple personality disorder) when I was 28-years-old. Most kids entering the business don't believe that video game existed before they were born. I used to freak them out by introducing them to a tester who worked on arcade video games in the 1980's and another tester who worked on pen-and-paper games in the 1970's.
After three years of testing video games and three years of being a lead tester, I went into help desk support at the tender young age of 34. That was 11 years ago. These days I'm doing security remediation by consoling into hurt computers and fixing broken users. Most of my coworkers are in their 50's. The nice thing about info security is that you really need to have 10+ years in I.T. experience. A high hurdle for kids coming out of school and H1B candidates from India. This field is expected to grow in the years to come.
I developed for years, moved into software architecture / lead engineer roles, and then, some years ago, noticed that - although my experience increased and increased - I got "stuck" at a certain employment and salary level. I did not want to make the jump into management for the life of me, so I established myself as an independent software architect. msobkow, above, points out that willingness to travel is of paramount importance to stay in the business, and I absolutely second that. I have gigs all over Europe ( am writing this post right now from a Berlin hotel, on a Sunday evening, in order to be at my customer's tomorrow morning ) - and I never, ever enjoyed work as much as since I became independent. It even does not feel like work anymore: I have made my hobby out of my work, so to say. I simply advertise myself as the "programming and software architecture guy who deals with the hard problems the young guys are afraid of". It works. Yes, I stay informed of new developments in my field, learned a new language ( Julia ), am learning a new language right now ( K ). For sure, there is a future in non-managerial IT. You just need to set a sensible course, be flexisble enough to seize opportunities, and off you go. I plan to work way beyond 65, for sheer pleasure, and you'll have to pry the keyboard from my cold, dead hands.
Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace