For aspiring software engineers, that can mean diverse career opportunities. I spent many years coding and implemented many successful projects. How customers interact with software determines their relationship with whatever product is being sold. Frankly only the "fad language of the week" is gonna actually be very new and if all they care about is fad languages then i doubt its gonna be a good place for long term employment anyway. Consulting or professional services. They are highly paid and are continuously in huge demand. Finally, they realize they've castrated themselves and simply claim it's a dead-end career. IOW, it's a dead end career. In the Netherlands (where I live) there's about 40.000 men in the age-group of 40-45. I wasn’t into management and I am a curious tinkerer who likes too many fields for my own good. Because all the cool toys get more and more expensive. which inherently make it more difficult to find a job irrespective of age. People don't just magically stop having bills after 35, individuals are getting married and starting families later in life, and software / tech careers are becoming the linchpin of what's left of the American middle class. Some career counselors suggest a student also focus on "people skills" and business skills rather than purely technical skills because such "soft skills" are allegedly more difficult to offshore. But they code just as much as I do. Put this FUD in your FUD-bucket with all the FUD that Bloomberg spews day after day. Exactly, if you want to increase your income but continue to be a programmer then look elsewhere. Sounds like pointless fear-mongering to me. Benefits and overhead cost quite a lot and they are generally on a per headcount basis. It's not "Bloomberg" that's saying it, but somebody who submitted an editorial to Bloomberg, which published it. You ever hear of Logan's Run? Been doing it full-time since then, and now I'm 58. I'm not sure this works the same for programmers, but /me as a sysadmin has no trouble finding a new job every 1.5-3 years. It is really worth it but you should be good at coding and implementing algorithms if you really want to be a good software engineer. But one thing experience teaches you that nothing else can is an intuitive grasp of how the frameworks and tools function and what they are probably doing inside all that obfuscated and hidden code. Frankly, I wonder if you have ever done any real software engineering - you don't seem to have much understanding of how large projects are done. Facebook is doing the exact same thing as every other large tech company: Microsoft, Google, Oracle, etc. A software engineer career path usually starts at the graduate level. Effectively cut them off from their career fields at such a pivotal point in their lives, en masse... see what you reap. In that field, experience is EVERYTHING...and you can make a very healthy bill rate. You have to be adaptable, willing to risk, willing to move/travel to where the jobs are. Being into IT and Software Testing for more than 10 years, I have never regretted my decision to take Software Testing as my career. Question: How Do You Know If Your Laptop Died? Instead, I figure out what security issues others created in their code, without even having the source code in front of me. The combination of autonomy, pay, flexibility, and job satisfaction leads to software engineers being quite happy compared to people in other professions. Immediate short term gain was not the only motive. And whatever Zuckerberg says can probably be ignored, because you just know he's the type that, when he's getting on a bit, will be saying that age and experience are what counts. At least twice in the last few years, my past experience with assembly helped me resolve issues that had my co-workers scratching their heads even after I explained it to them. Good devs shouldn't stop coding unless they are bored with it. Not all developers have yet learned how to interact with non-technical people. Additionally, in both those examples the cost of the individual is relatively small compared to the value of the project. It has nothing to do with being a programmer or not. This is an excellent way to find out what the job involves and gain some real-life experience. Overall I have gotten a very good response rate to my applications. Management is supposed to be a small subset of the workforce. Therefore you are being exploited. That said, I don't feel like these "senior developer" positions are that much more demanding or complex than the stuff I did when I was, in fact, a "junior developer". If they have the vision and drive, anyone could make a good data engineer with time." I agree -- maybe engineers at companies like IBM, Oracle, or Sun have stuck with the same company that long, but I don't personally know many developers who have. That's the problem in the corporate world. An old man once told me that age and treachery will always trump youth and skill... You can't fire people when you don't have anyone to hire to fill their spot. Then you train them in the Company Way. Operating systems, word processors, apps, and games fall into […] ), The idea is that you hire "raw material" (CS grads) who really don't know any engineering. Essentially, it involves creating and putting a number of building blocks together to create a working application. In employment survey after employment survey, software engineer scores high marks. Career advisers expect software engineering jobs to be divided between applications software engineering (about 175,000) and systems software engineering (about 120,000). You will be able to see the very real job career requirements for employers who are actively hiring. Software engineering is a smart career choice – it’s one of the most in-demand skills in the world and American software engineers earn a median salary of $112,000. Or better yet: Why do you try to make more money. Computers were around long before "personal computers" and needed programming. You may not be doing much hiring of any kind when they're done shoving your dumb, pathologically stock-price-obsessed ass effectively out of society. Which could mean that a young person will stupidly take the first job offered while an older person will wisely shop around? His cost gets spread over his staff. Experience and insight in what I do gets me higher up the ladder every time for the last 25 years. Even Mechanical Engineering students are trained in CAD/CAM. I feel a lot of firms have devalued experienced engineers to their peril. There are typically two kinds of Chemical Engineering degree – Bachelors of Engineering and Masters of Engineering – the MEng will typically last 1-2 years longer, so is the more in-depth degree. In this way, the most expensive move on, and if any are replaced they're done so with cheap new talent. Having 'graduated' from a software development company several years ago, there's a market for people with a good general grounding in computers who also have some domain expertise in one or more areas. Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook has blurted out that young programmers are superior. If it's false, it's false. Ultimately, IMO they have just cut all the reasons for anyone to remain at the company. Here's a radical idea: why does all of that money have to be made for shareholders? As always on Slashdot, +5 anecdotes trump data. Bloomberg, the same one that predicted that the iPhone would be an utter failure? ;-). This is going to sound "ageist" but ... the only advantage young programmers have is that they're willing to work 20 hour days and 7 day weeks for months at a time. I am sure doctors are pretty dead end too...I guess unless you can hedge fund your way to making billions by exploiting millions... you are in a dead end career. No new comments can be posted. The opposite of hardware, software is any coded program that controls computer functions. Even a career in fashion or textile design can be a good fit for the artistic talents of someone with ADHD. Teacher Believe it or not, becoming a teacher can be a good fit for the ADHD individual. Field Engineer is fully automated; it only takes a few minutes to set the skill set and upload your credentials. Operating systems, word processors, apps, and games fall into […] While in college, pursue a degree in software engineering or a related field, and look for internship opportunities where you can get even more hands-on training. The 'grown up' skills like being able to conduct yourself nicely in meetings, work with actual end users and not be a condescending prat, and be able to see the big picture of why someone is doing something are quite marketable. The course requires lots of work and input from the students but that does not qualify it to be considered a difficult course to do in any way. Rephrasing without the business speak, you seem to be talking about four things: languages, standard/common libraries, techniques, or actual programming tools, i.e. Access Shared, How do you stop ivy from growing? 3 Reasons for Choosing a Career in Software Development. But hey, it's more important to get that stock price an extra 1 cent higher so the corporate managers can earn that extra million dollar bonus. Employers usually hire job candidates who have a bachelor’s degree. Thanks not only to the pressure of offshoring but the increased use of effective template-based designs, tooling, and frameworks that put to shame older tools like CORBA, and suddenly the only experience the senior programmer has that's actually relevant is their business experience. It is very well paid and according to the survey in Kaggle on Data Science and Machine Learning, most of the participants gave a 7 on 10 in terms of job satisfaction. Certification: Although not always required, gaining certification can put a candidate at the top of the list of applicants. Hold on there. It's not like we make as much money as atheletes, so where do programmers go when they are 40? Most of the "wise, seasoned vets" that I've had problems with were men. Hardware engineers design and maintain physical products. 10 steps to world peace1 Start. Every project I've been on with guys like that has been an uphill battle. Welcome to Costco. No, really. But now in many places, it's strip mining. The opposite of hardware, software is any coded program that controls computer functions. The financial climate is good for individuals considering a career in the field — Robert Half projects salaries will climb by 6.6 percent in 2016. Are software engineers happy? At the entry-level, the salaries are around Rs 15000 to Rs 50000. Wait for your full vest and you'll look like a lamer while your pals are rolling in trajectory goodness. Theoretically, word gets out...kids stop wasting money on college education that won't last till they break even on their student loans...companies grudgingly have to hire the old farts who had trouble finding work when their were so many recent grads...CS is no longer a dead-end career. Explore the different levels of certification provided by the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE). What makes programmers more attractive is they are rational consumers. Software engineers may be a good fit for this job if they have the proper qualifications, as they would have real work experience to pass on to students. The builder would be at least a foreman. Increasing even the total labour costs by 30% only increases the total project cost by 10%. Places with to many qualified people (Silicon Valley), or to few technical jobs (most of Lo. Still code everyday for a living. This has nothing to do with how many older guys are out there. Computer software engineers must have excellent listening and speaking skills, as well as critical thinking and teamwork. Because they don't know any better, they're now bound to the company's internal processes and it makes it that much harder for them to jump-ship or work on someone else's ecosystem. There are so many different roles available to an AWS engineer that it makes more sense to break it down further into specific functions. While I'm not 40, yet, I'm getting closer (37), and I haven't had much trouble finding work at all since the. Market mechanisms mean these young whippersnappers will ask for more money, but the product they deliver will not necessarily be more valuable. It takes longer for most older people to find jobs.