where do old programmers go?

[Jerry Davis]

On Saturday 17 March 2007 11:02, vodhner at cox.net wrote:
> Josh wrote, in an older thread:
> >     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.
>
> Josh, I was programming when you were born, and I'm still at it.
> There are a few working with me of similar age, though most are
> closer to yours.
>
> I tried being a manager for a few  years, but that was clearly not
> what I'm good at.
>
<snip>

I too was programming before you were born.
I was with DEC in Texas, in its heydey.

I have had to wear many hats in IT.

I started out being a programmer. Assembly Language, Fortran, and C. All 
realtime stuff. It was on RT-11, RSX-11, and BSD Unix. During the time at DEC 
(12 years), I kept taking on more and more "other duties" until I lost touch 
with the real world outside. I was real good at DEC, but when DEC started 
going down (I think I got tapped on the shoulder on the 8th or 9th wave of 
layoffs), I found myself on the outside with no real skills that were 
current. ALWAYS STAY CURRENT. If you can't do it ON THE JOB, do it OFF THE 
JOB.

I spent a year after that trying to upgrade my skills. I thought knowing MS 
would be the ticket. I didn't like being on MS, I thought it was a cute 
little operating system on the outside, but with no real substance on the 
inside. I still think it is lipstick on a pig -- even with Vista (more of the 
lipstick maybe -- but the same old pig), but that's me.

Now, to stay in the business, I have to work on MS but I don't like it.
The times that make me really like what I do, are when I am working on linux.
The only thing that makes working on MS bearable, is working within cygwin.

I have gotten into SCM the last 8 years, but I am not just an admin, I do 
scripting to interface to all of our SCM tools, and also to do builds. I 
spend a lot of time on linux now too, which makes coming to work worth it.

My main point here is, find something you like, and be the best at it. And 
KEEP CURRENT. If you don't you will find yourself out the door one day, and 
with a resume that won't sell. And if you don't like what you do, then it 
might be time to change careers.

The next point is, while you make good money in IT, make sure you put away for 
retirement, as MUCH as is humanly possible. You might get to age 55, and 
decide this is NOT what you want to do any more. Then you might have the 
means to retire early from IT, and do something else, while drawing on your 
retirement.

Good luck.

-- 
Happy Trails!
Jerry
 
KE7JVW
Hobbit Name: Pimpernel Loamsdown
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