where do old programmers go?

[Gene Holmerud]

On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 00:09:52 -0700, Josh Coffman <josh_coffman at yahoo.com>  
wrote:

> Hi,
>
>     I'm a programmer, and i'd like to know where old programmers go. I'm  
> wondering because I don't see a lot of 55+ programmers and I want to be  
> prepared for the future.
> Some might say I'm still young (30's), but now is probably the time to  
> plan for the next 20-30 years of my career.
>
[snip]

My less than humble opinion is to know at least two disciplines.  You  
apparently have programming, but knowing very well an application field  
that needs programming for solutions is a good move.  Sure, there are  
careers strictly within computerdum, SCM has been mentioned and certainly  
compiler writing are examples, but knowing your user's field is very  
valuable.

I too came to the valley in 1971 while just short of age 30 and continued  
to work for a computer manufacturer as a technical rep.  Some six years  
later I had the opportunity to use my college education, namely Physics  
with an emphasis in Electronics, by working for an electric utility in  
their real-time operations control center as a engineer/programmer.  It  
required both disciplines and they encouraged me to study for the  
Electricial Professional Engineer Exam, which I passed.

After 21 years there, I was offered a similiar job with the Dept. of  
Energy where I used my knowledge and contacts from before to build one of  
the four data hubs that allow over a hundred inter-connected electric  
utilities in the Western US, Canada and Mexico to exchange real-time data  
to keep the lights on (aka, system reliability).  Nine of those utilities  
connect to the backbone at that hub.  That involved networking and working  
with electricial engineering quantities.  I took the Cisco classes at  
South Mountain CC to get the expertise needed there, and passed the CCNA  
exam.

Perhaps you've caught a theame here.  That is, Life-Long Education.  Since  
retiring the second time (for good, I think), I took Java and XML classes  
at Phoenix College in order to upgrade how I manage money & expenses for  
my rental homes.  Yes, I invested that way too, including my own sweat  
painting, plumbing repair, electricial work, and so on.  I also deigned  
and, with the help of friends, built buzz-in systems for Science Bowl  
competitions in AZ that use a really cool micro-controller.

I strongly reccomend using an investment manager long before you plan to  
retire.  The expertise they bring to the effort is so far beyond what I  
could have amased while working.  And it is worth many times the fees and  
commissions.  I can reccomend one group offline if you're interested.   
Typical "Day Traders" (aka, gamblers) drop $50k before getting the hang of  
it, if they get the hang of it.

Gene