Re:More thoughts on population dynamics: predictio
on
Too Old To Code?
·
· Score: 2
Being a relatively old fart in the industry (I learned FORTRAN back in 1974), I disagree with your prognosis. First, programming used to be more of a master/apprentice career. With literally hours between runs/compiles, one learned at the feet of the master. While there are still things to be learned from the masters today, the amount of raw computing power at our fingertips tends to preclude having (or at least taking) the time to learn from each other as much as we used to and instead firing off a debugger or the next compile.
Second, employers want someone who knows the latest stuff and isn't bound into an out-of-date paradigm. Students fresh from school are seen as fitting this description, dinosaurs (like myself) aren't. Every current IT hotshot who doesn't reinvent themselves constantly and stay on the bleeding edge will be a target for replacement. The only exception to this I am familiar with is organizations tied to legacy systems (read government, especially DOD, whom I suspect still have PDP-11's hiding somewhere). And if they are ever upgraded, the people who used to work on those systems will have a hard time getting intro postions.
Slashdot Mirror
Being a relatively old fart in the industry (I learned FORTRAN back in 1974), I disagree with your prognosis. First, programming used to be more of a master/apprentice career. With literally hours between runs/compiles, one learned at the feet of the master. While there are still things to be learned from the masters today, the amount of raw computing power at our fingertips tends to preclude having (or at least taking) the time to learn from each other as much as we used to and instead firing off a debugger or the next compile.
Second, employers want someone who knows the latest stuff and isn't bound into an out-of-date paradigm. Students fresh from school are seen as fitting this description, dinosaurs (like myself) aren't. Every current IT hotshot who doesn't reinvent themselves constantly and stay on the bleeding edge will be a target for replacement. The only exception to this I am familiar with is organizations tied to legacy systems (read government, especially DOD, whom I suspect still have PDP-11's hiding somewhere). And if they are ever upgraded, the people who used to work on those systems will have a hard time getting intro postions.