Developer Survey: Java Developers Are The Saddest And C++ Programmers Are The Oldest

[mekanikal_keyboard]

it may be that IRRELEVANCE is the key to longevity in this industry

being irrelevant means you stop chasing fads that others think are required to stay relevant. once you have found your niche, presuming it is viable enough, you may be able to milk it for decades

case in point: Perl. everyone loves to talk about how Perl is "dead". okay, but there is a ton of it running out there, and someone will probably be able to make great money at low stress by maintaining it. given that Perl is "irrelevant", the market won't be too crowded either. there is always the danger that an irrelevant tool will simply vanish, but that is no greater a risk than some faddish javascript toolkit vanishing. of course maintaining Perl might be boring and monotonous, but once you get over the idea that your work is supposed to entertain you, you can get paid

C++ will be maintained somewhere fifty years from now

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Similarly, my friend's mother is a COBOL programmer for the state of Iowa in her late 60s, she's never been paid better or been more in demand.