Comments on: Software development as a lifelong career?

By: Jouni Heikniemi

Jouni Heikniemi — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 04:42:54 +0000

Hmmm… The url didn't get pasted into the previous comment.
http://www.heikniemi.net/hc/archives/000133.html was the intended address.

By: Jouni Heikniemi

Jouni Heikniemi — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 04:42:18 +0000

Doug, I certainly agree with both of you. See for some of my thoughts on the "I can't" (or won't, which is just another variant) syndrome; it's surprisingly common, and certainly not limited by age or profession.
Sami, re the salary question: I feel it's natural for people to yearn for some sort of recognition for their work. Salary just happens to be the primary way of doing it these days – it wouldn't have to be this way, but it's not like we could easily change it. After all, it is justifiable (at least to a certain extent) thinking that salary should reflect the productivity of the employee, and in this sense differences by organization rank are hardly explainable; a top notch developer beats a poor manager hands down.

By: Douglas Reilly

Douglas Reilly — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 16:44:48 +0000

While it is true that some older developers do not want to learn anything new, it is also true that many younger developers do not want to either. Note the recent blog entries and petitions about keeping VB6 around.
Believe me, I was talking about developers (such as myself) who are willing and able to keep up on the latest developments.

By: Sami Poimala

Sami Poimala — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 08:02:50 +0000

I don't think it is experienced developers that are being pushed to sales or management but greedy developers that yearn for higher salary.
I've seen some – well, not quite many but some – "old", 50 and over years old developers that have said "I just want to code" or "I'll gladly leave the sales and management to those who are able to do it".
The problem with few older developers is the "this has been always done like this" -syndrome. The experienced developers should still be eager to learn new things but also the younger developers shouldn't push their experienced brothers away. I have seen it too: "you are an old lad, you know nothing about software development today". This is not the way to go :)