Slashdot Mirror
Do Old Programmers Need To Keep Leaping Through New Hoops?
Nerval's Lobster writes: In recent years, it seems as if tech has evolved into an industry that lionizes the young. Despite all the press about 21-year-old rock-star developers and 30-year-old CEOs, though, is there still a significant market for older programmers and developers, especially those with specialized knowledge? The answer is "yes," of course, and sites like Dice suggest that older tech pros should take steps such as setting up social media accounts and spending a lot of time on Github if they want to attract interest from companies and recruiters. But do they really need to go through all of that? If you have twenty, thirty, or even forty years of solid tech work under your belt, is it worth jumping through all sorts of new hoops? Or is there a better way to keep working — provided you don't already have a job, that is, or move up to management, or get out of the game entirely in order to try something startling and new.
If you have X years of programming experience, then you should be able to sell yourself based upon that.
Social media and such would be useful to programmers JUST STARTING THEIR CAREERS.
BUT! If you are an older programmer you DO need to keep expanding your knowledge. Learn newer languages / systems.
"Companies say they can't find enough qualified candidates. "
Law of supply and demand affects salaries. Companies that have not learned this, can't find qualified candidates, because they're not paying enough.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
In recent months, it seems as if Nerval's Lobster has evolved into a submitter that lionizes single-source stories based on Dice advertisements. Despite all the press about Nerval's Lobster only posting Dice stories, is there still a significant market for older submitters, especially those who post actual news stories? The answer is "yes," of course, and sites like the comments section of Slashdot suggest that Nerval's Lobster should take steps such as posting something that isn't a single-source story from Dice and spending a lot of time on submitting actual quality stories if they want to not be mocked by commenters. But do they really need to go through all of that? If you have twenty, thirty, or even forty years of Dice link submissions, is it worth jumping through all sorts of new hoops? Or is there a better way to keep working — provided you don't already have a way to bypass the editorial system, that is, or move up to management, or just keep posting Dice links?
The last time I jumped through a new hoop, I broke my hip.
I object to that article, and to the next reply.
Yes, you should stay current. That doesn't necessarily mean GitHub, but you should at least have a pretty good idea of what GitHub is, what it does and how to use it.
Here's the thing. If you want to get a programming job today, chances are you'll need to pass through some kind of "white board" programming test. That is, a 1-3 hour session where the hiring manager and team will sit you down and ask you to come up with code and architecture to solve a real world problem. That means that you'll need to be able to think on your feet. It can be a terrifying, humbling experience if you are not prepared for it or even if you are. So, the best thing you can do is be prepared.
If you're selling yourself as a Java developer, you had damned well know Java inside out. Yeah, that means crack open a recent website and read up not just on all the fundamentals you've forgotten but also read up on some of the newer stuff that Java's added in the last few years. Walk through some sample interview questions on the web.
Secondly, work on your people skills. You'll have to be able to explain yourself clearly and concisely. You can be a brilliant technical person but if you cannot be understood, you won't get the job. During the white board session, people aren't looking for perfect syntax. What they are looking for is how you approach a problem, how you break it down, and how you communicate your path through the problem. Again, this all comes down to good communication skills as much as how well you sling code.
For the record: I'm a 53 year old programmer. I just "retired" from one company and landed in another with a 20% pay raise and better opportunities to move upwards. And yeah, I did have to pass a grueling 3 hour "white board" test. It can be done.
The problem is that the HR departments want X years in specific technology.
You still go through HR for jobs?
That's so darn cute!
If you want a mobile client to send 180 character messages out to millions of people, hire a young programmer,
If you want your networks to support messages going out to millions of people, all the time, every time, hire an old programmer.
If you want a really cool interactive website where employees can manage the benefits and see how much is in their 401k, hire a young programmer.
If you want your payroll to run and people to be paid accurately, every time, all the time, hire an old programmer.
If you want a fancy game, hire a young programmer.
If you want a system to manage the business that sells the game, hire an old programmer.
If you want an employee that sees stuff as fun toys and re-invents the wheel at every chance, hire a young programmer.
If you want an employee who understands that this is a business and that people's livelihoods depends on it being right, all of the time, hire an old programmer.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.