8
vortex
4y

In all the companies i worked at so far, never seen any employee (in any department) above age 50..maybe the ceo or some lawyer, but thats it.
Where do all the 50+ ppl go in tech?
I'm not sure the tech world will be what it is now even in 10 years.. but I'm just wondering do any of u guys think/worry about where we'll work when we stop being young and cool?
Looks like it's either u start your own business, which not everyone can, or..
what is option B exactly?!?

Comments
  • 3
  • 2
    I have had a couple of “older” (mid 40s) developers onboard at my company over the years as Cold Fusion developers. But your going to be hard pressed to find anyone younger who has experience with that language.
  • 2
    They move on to being consultants and charge 5k/hour
  • 5
    They grow grey beards (yes, even the women) and do the important stuff that nobody would entrust to millennials.
  • 2
    If they stay devs, they move to companies that appreciate them. Several coworkers of mine are less than ten years away from retirement. And they are still excited for new technologies, they're not the entrenched and conservative types.

    I can't help but laugh at the idea that 30, 40 or whatever arbitrary number is (too) old for a developer. Whoever believes that is missing out on some of the best devs you can get.
  • 1
    @VaderNT That's the point - bad managers who are full of shit don't want to hear experienced devs. They want young, inexperienced ones who take all crap and compensate boss stupidity with unpaid overtime.
  • 2
    We had a 70+ Android dev at a previous company. He knew the platform inside out and could answer the oddest of questions for the full stacks. But it's very rare indeed.
  • 4
    Bob Martin actually talked about this once. Hes been programming since 1970 and he said all the old programmers are still around, there just werent that many to begin with. The size of our industry doubles every 5 years so its so saturated with younger devs that it looks like old devs dont exist.
  • 0
    @vortex for a dev working after 50 doesn’t make sense, ideally people should retire between 40 to 50
    it’s a healthy decision
  • 1
    As far as sysadmins are concern age is not a problem :) if anything, it's a plus. Do you thing the image of an old gray sysadmin with a long bears is made up?

    As for devs - that's what I'm wondering as well. Some start their own businesses [not necessarily dev-related], others go to mgmt, some switch careers to some other field,.. I don't there are many old folks who can keep up with new dev trends :/ but idk for a fact
  • 3
    In embedded and algorithms there are almost only older men (above 45+), where I worked. I interviewed in a defense company once, and every person I saw in the hallways could have been my grandfather.
    Fields in programming that are quite recent, will obviously have less older people (like mobile/web). But the old school CS have plenty of older guys.
  • 1
    You won’t find older people in cool startups, because they have been there and they can see the BS. Organizing your company as a cult (aka „startup culture”) is just a trick to pay specialists way below the market rate for overtime work.
  • 0
    They go to banks or insurance companies where they don't have to learn much new stuff and get payed decently until they retire.
  • 1
    If you’re over 50 just learn COBOL.. guaranteed employment in the financial industry for decades
  • 1
    @Lor-inc are Hungarians to hungry to retire?
  • 1
    @electrineer If I had a Forint for every time I heard that joke or a version of it, I wouldn't be hungry anymore.
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  • 0
    Interesting, my department's got a good range of ages, from early 20s to estimated 50-55
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