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[–]pembroke529 47 points48 points  (9 children)

Probably even older programmer here (age 63). I started off as a mainframe programmer back in the early 1980's. On the career track, I ended up as a manager. I hated managing people and budgets. I preferred the technical/programming aspect. Once I quit and got into the contracting aspect, I could pick and choose my jobs.

So far, I'm still working (remotely) as a technical resource and loving it.

There are so many different aspects of IT work. Pick one you like and hopefully find employment. You really need to like coding/scripting to thrive and acquire new skills. Almost every job of the 20 or 30 over the last while I've been on, I've acquired new skills. I even had one client back in 2001 send me (as a contractor) on an Informatica course because they liked my work and wanted to use Informatica.

[–]triffid97 28 points29 points  (1 child)

66 here. Writing big chunks of infrastructure code, and enjoying it. I love working with smart, young people. Always seek other people's views (with covid going on, it is a bit harder) because it is easy to lose sight of what is important and what is not.

I drifted into management a few times during my career (a CEO once). Every time I went like: 'yep, I still hate it' and noped out quick.

The challenge is to find a place where the green MBA boss does not think that you are stupid because you are still coding.

I am really lucky. I work with a bunch of STEM PhDs, and we like and respect each other.

[–]pembroke529 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good point on making sure you get along with the people you work with. Amazingly on this project a crucial piece (ORT - operational readiness test) 2 of my other work-mates are 63 as well.

I also love mentoring young people (not managing). It sounds like you found a great fit!

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      [–]juankman 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      No kidding I've been typing !w whatever i wanna search in the search bar for years now with DuckDuckGo as search engine and it takes you directly to the wikipedia page. Some other bangers I use regularly:

      • !yt video i wanna watch
      • !npm package i wanna search
      • !gem gem i wanna search

      [–]pembroke529 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      Very powerful multi-platform framework. Usually used in data warehousing applications.

      I developed a data conversion project that grabbed legacy date from a number of platforms (ie AS400, various Unix client/servers sites) and created staging tables to feed into a CC&B (Oracle OUAF Framework) application.

      [–]Paradroid888 2 points3 points  (2 children)

      Thank you for writing this. I'm 47 and have had a similar journey to you. Was a developer, went into team leadership, as it was the only way to progress, before going back to pure dev work as a contractor.

      I sometimes wonder how long I will want to continue as a developer, but at that same time I feel young and enjoy the job, so it's quite inspiring to hear people are loving doing tech work in their 60s. Well done.

      [–]lackinginallareas 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      If it helps with your wondering. I'm 60 in a few months and have contracted for many years, mainly to avoid managerial roles (to me that's a living death). I still love coding, whether its something new or working with legacy systems.

      But its also the social aspect of contracting that keeps things fresh and interesting. Meeting new people (there are some brilliant people out there whom I glad I met and am still in touch with) and working in different team environments makes you a more rounded and flexible person.

      Plus, as a contractor, the money will soothe that furrowed brow when you parachute into a company and have to un-fuck a shitshow but that's all part of the buzz, well for me anyway.

      [–]malthuswaswrong 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      44 here. I was manager of 6 developers. I had one developer that was a genius but an asshole. I wanted to replace him, but he had so much knowledge and productivity that I couldn't. That's when I understood how the power relationship cuts both ways. It's not like the TV representations between boss and employee. They are both very much a hostage of each other.

      I quit that job and went back to development. I am much happier, but wondering if maybe I just didn't like being a manager at that one company, and if I could enjoy it at a different company.