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Possible Duplicate:
How old is "too old"?

I'm about to start CS next year. I love both the coding and the mathematical aspects of programming. However, recently I encountered multiple rants about how it's impossible to actually be a programmer over 45, unless you're in a managing position or filling a very specific niche.

Any advice? I'm seriously questioning my career choice here, and would be grateful for some input.

Community
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3 Answers3

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In about 1984 before I started college in CS (1985) and probably before you were born, I read an article in Omni magazine that advised against going into CS because by 2000 there would be no jobs for programmers since it would all be automated. In about 2003, Omni was closed down and I have never regretted being a programmer. Tech related jobs can gainfully employ every human on the planet and will in some form over time. There are plenty of old programmers.

joemooney
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Insteaad of fixating on age and whether or not you're too old for programming, you should focus on the fact that you actually do love programming and the aspects of it. As long as you have the desire and drive to get into the field and you enjoy it, you'll find something eventually.

Besides, worse case you can always freelance or become a teacher ;)

Robert Harvey
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There is some truth in the idea that older people (like me) can't easily do the jobs that young programmers do. That's because young programmers mostly lack the ability to think, and rely on mindless memorization of a huge number of facts and associations, and tools (like auto-completion) that restrict their choices enough to avoid the bulk of errors they would otherwise produce. We used to call this "canned programming" (like heating a can of soup or whatever for dinner, rather than real cooking), but today, since that's overwhelmingly what programmers do, it's a seldom used term.

Older people can't in general do this mindless kind of programming because (1) our brains have sacrificed the memorization ability for ability to reason (like, heuristics, example problems/solutions, so on), and because (2) it is to large degree a social thing, picking up hints about the latest ephemeral mayfly technology from one's multitude of friends & online activity.

Conversely, where the programming calls for some reasoning ability, older people are best.

Here's a science fiction book that is both fun and interesting, dealing with this problem:

Rainbow's End by Vernor Vinge.

Cheers & hth., only my opinions of course,

Alf P. Steinbach
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