Comment Aging Programmers??? (Score 2) 432
I'm not surprised to see (again!) that "old" programmers are discriminated against. Same thing is true for "old" engineers. In some places! But who do you go to design a system that will take 200 to 1000 man years to finish? Or to find weak points in someone else's design for a billion dollar satellite system? Or to plan the integration and test for a nation-wide communications network? Or to fix a project that's way behind schedule and over budget and has more bugs than a long int can count? Do you go to the programmer with 2 years experience or the one with 20? The smart folks go for the experience, even with smaller projects. The ones who won't pay for experience eventually find themselves up the creek without a paddle, then without a canoe, then without even water in the creek. And the project (or even the entire business) gets canceled.
I've been a programmer since 1964. (Hmmm, that may be even more than 20 years . . .) Also a designer, analyst, project lead, program manager, systems integrator, instructor, consultant and trouble shooter. I've had the opportunity to work on accounting systems, operating systems, database systems, satellites, communications, device drivers, web sites, compilers, etc. I've seen projects staffed with kids (because they're inexpensive) and old fossils (because they're here) and seen just about every software design mistake possible - several times. And I know how to avoid them (mostly!)
These days I'm a programmer in my spare time (trying to play with Beowolf clusters on my home network) because my experience is too valuable to the company for bigger problems than coding a new application. I've successfully transmuted the joy of building a new program and seeing it work right into the joy of building full systems and seeing them work well.
Am I a zillionaire yet? Nah. Am I deeply enthralled with my current assignment? Not really. Would I change any of the choices I've made over the past three decades? Never!
So the question is: how do you go from being a newly graduated programmer eagerly sought after to an older but wiser fart who is still eagerly sought after? And the answer is in four parts:
I've been a programmer since 1964. (Hmmm, that may be even more than 20 years . .
These days I'm a programmer in my spare time (trying to play with Beowolf clusters on my home network) because my experience is too valuable to the company for bigger problems than coding a new application. I've successfully transmuted the joy of building a new program and seeing it work right into the joy of building full systems and seeing them work well.
Am I a zillionaire yet? Nah. Am I deeply enthralled with my current assignment? Not really. Would I change any of the choices I've made over the past three decades? Never!
So the question is: how do you go from being a newly graduated programmer eagerly sought after to an older but wiser fart who is still eagerly sought after? And the answer is in four parts:
Never stop learning!
Always be intensely curious about new ideas and techniques!
Never be afraid to make a mistake!
Always be willing to admit that it was your mistake - and learn from it!
----
VP Unmarketing, Product Confusion and Linux Distributions
