On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 00:09:52 -0700, Josh Coffman <
josh_coffman@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
---------------------------------------------------
PLUG-discuss mailing list -
PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail settings:
http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
(text/plain)