Re:Old Techies Never Die; They Just Can’t Get Hired as an In...
by draggnar on Sunday January 29, 2012 @03:22PM
(#3526119)
this is interesting. my father was a tech guy that found himself laid-off a few years back when he hit 50. He hung up the tech boots, started importing foods from his home country to sell to local gourmet shops. Not a huge business but it is the thing he is doing since he was too young to retire. He genuinely enjoys doing it, meeting people and delivering products. It was a complete 180 from what he was doing before. Maybe tech is something inherently for younger people/minds? Maybe techies need to become more open minded with career options as time goes on?
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Re:Old Techies Never Die; They Just Can’t Get Hired as an In...
by zeraholladay on Sunday January 29, 2012 @04:24PM
(#3526312)
I've worked in a "tech" department with mostly older folks as the youngest person. It was frustrating. I can't tell you how many times I heard "nobody knows how to do that." There were plenty of older COBOL programs, in 10 years they'll be called Java programmers. The COBOL programmers maintained a legacy business application, which was a mammoth beast of obscure rules and uncharted/unknown results. But the system worked and made the company money. Point is, there are still opportunities for older developers although they might not be ideal. Frankly, it was a soul crushing job and I can't believe I'm defending it even in this context.
That's good about your dad tho. I don't know if I'd be able to make that kind of change if I'm ever in his position.
Re:Old Techies Never Die; They Just Can’t Get Hired as an In...
by beachgeek on Sunday January 29, 2012 @04:21PM
(#3526302)
Good for your father! It isn't just tech, everyone in every industry needs to be nimble.
Even if you are a farmer, you might find you need to switch from growing say wheat to corn because market conditions changed.