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Ask HN: Older engineers, do you see a future in tech?

10 points by microwavegen ↗ HN
Using a throwaway account for obvious reason.

I've been a software engineer for a decade, and I've been in ad tech for the past 4 years. The going has been good so far, but I can't help but notice a glass ceiling.

This whole time I've chosen to stay an engineer because I enjoy the technical challenges. What once seemed like a career path of boundless opportunity, now strikes me as a dead-end. Promotions have been very hard to come by, most of my career "progression" has been lateral moves.

What's more, it's not like I'm gaining many more skills. In fact, what I see happening is many of my skills becoming irrelevant or automated. For example network programming and programming languages. It has all become automated and packaged in pristine libraries.

Even in ad tech specialization has not been a savior. Machine learning has become more and more standardized, such that anyone with just 2 years experience can easily train models and deploy them to production (luckily, debugging ad delivery issues is still not easy, so I still have a safe haven there).

At length, I'm really worried about my future as a software engineer. I feel like I'm constantly running on a treadmill hanging off a cliff edge. If I ever stop running, or slow down, I might fall into the precipice.

And slow down I have. I'm almost 40 and I don't have the energy, time, or mental acuity I once had. I've been handsomely compensated for my work so far. But I'm afraid. I'm afraid that I will grow obsolete and that the young guns will catch up to me and depose me.

I have a wife and kids and a mortgage. I can't just up and move to the newest job hub. I can't undertake a grueling 5 year training sequence to switch careers. But should my fears come to pass, I won't be able to maintain my lifestyle. All those high-earning years were merely borrowing from my future. And now the bill has come due.

To close my meandering diatribe with the actual question. HN, do you see a future in tech?

6 comments

[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 27.9 ms ] thread
dougireton
I do. I'm 47 with 24 years experience in tech. I don't plan to retire anytime soon. I have kids and a mortgage too.

I'm still a Sr. Engineer, not a director or Sr. Director, but I'm happy as an engineer. I've been fortunate to work in a lot of different technologies, Windows Server, Linux, Chef/Ruby, AWS, etc.

I've also invested time in mentoring junior engineers and interns. I find that my experience combined with good listening skills, and an ability to communicate with engineers, non-engineers, and senior mgmt helps me to stay relevant.

I also run a DevOps meetup group and I'm learning Golang in my spare time.

In short, I'm planning to stay in tech a long time. If anything I'm enjoying it more than ever.

My one piece of unsolicited advice is that developing networks in your city can help you move to a company which appreciates you and gives you opportunities to learn new things while working for an empathetic boss. Also, don't underestimate meaningful work. Helping to cure cancer is more emotionally rewarding than serving up ads more efficiently.

Best of luck. Hope you can stay in tech and find meaningful work.

Doug Ireton

syd_
24 yo here, so I can't answer your question. BUT. From what I read in your post, you're not only asking if there is a future in tech, you're also saying you're afraid because you don't have as much energy as you used to.

I'd say energy has little to do with age. As every 40yo you probably are 20lbs overweight, you haven't done much sport in the last years, you probably don't manage your sleep as well as you should, same goes for nutrition, etc.

When is the last time you took a MOOC, a new formation, learned a new skill by yourself?

tldr your energy has more to do with your lifestyle than with your age. Gl. :)

taway_1212
> tldr your energy has more to do with your lifestyle than with your age. Gl. :)

If that were true, we could cure death by lifestyle adjustments. Unfortunately, aging is a real thing.

syd_
You'll make death come later if you adjust your lifestyle. Sport + nutrition + good sleep = better energy day-to-day and better health -> aging slower.
buzzybee
I just heard a "machine learning is taking over everything" lament earlier this evening - not from ad tech specifically, even. Although I can't comment on my personal experience(being younger myself) one pathway to longer term job security for software seems to be to gradually move "down the stack" towards increasingly deep, low-level problems, where the necessary competence and experience is high enough to eliminate most young competitors. Another is to grow entrepreneurial enough to do consulting, or if more ambitious, product. A third is to transition towards an adjacent role where your specializations become more adaptable and less commodified - for me, I've pushed for a mix of design and management skills.
whostolemyhat
I've been working as a contractor for the last few years, so have experience of several companies. All have them have employed people over 40 and 50, some also over-60s, in all kinds of roles including writing code and management. Generally, their experience in delivering software is invaluable, regardless of technologies used.

People online tend to under-estimate how many people over 30 are involved in tech, for the simple reason that they tend not to use social media as much.

If you're talking specifically about your current job, then maybe they expect career progression to mean moving to management. Talk to your line manager to see what the coding career path is - if there isn't one then maybe you might have to consider finding another job at a place which does have coding career paths.