Is software development really a dead-end job after age 35-40?

Re:Is software development really a dead-end job after age 3... by fspeech on Friday November 17, 2017 @06:40PM (#15726898)

'The big danger is "owning" some domain that falls out of fashion'

That is part of the reason for the high pay. There is always risk associated with specialization. You can't become an expert without specializing in something, but if you specialize in the wrong thing your effort may not be rewarded.

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Re:Is software development really a dead-end job after age 3... by mgkimsal on Friday November 17, 2017 @11:24PM (#15727742)

> There is always risk associated with specialization

That might be the reason people demand higher pay, but it wouldn't be the reason why companies pay the higher pay. They pay it because there's a scarcity of people, and/or because they get some multipled value back. No company cares if I've specialized in the 'wrong thing' - they just won't hire me.

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Re:Is software development really a dead-end job after age 3... by DataWorker on Saturday November 18, 2017 @12:18AM (#15727865)

That’s an important “or”. It’s not always scarcity, it’s often the perceived value. CEOs are just one of many examples where the pay is not at all because of scarcity.

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Re:Is software development really a dead-end job after age 3... by _Tev on Saturday November 18, 2017 @08:19AM (#15728840)

Are there really that many people capable and willing to work as CEO? From my experience there are never enough good managers.

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Re:Is software development really a dead-end job after age 3... by mgkimsal on Saturday November 18, 2017 @09:45AM (#15729112)

I meant to add 'perceived' on value, and the 'scarcity' aspect can play in to the perception of value too.

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