Programmers: Before you turn 40, get a plan B (2009)

In 1998, many programmers around 40 were moving into middle or upper management. Not because they couldn&#x27;t program, it&#x27;s just that the huge growth in programming during the 80s meant that more and more programmers were required to move into management positions, rather than the &#x27;coalface&#x27; programming areas where most of them probably would have preferred to be.<p>Programming growth has levelled off markedly in the quarter-century since that original 1998 survey. You&#x27;d probably that there would be lots more older programmers around in today&#x27;s companies than back in 1998.<p>Let&#x27;s see now, how old would Bill Gates, and his peers, have been back in 1998? How old are the founders of Google, Facebook, and Amazon in today&#x27;s world?

I hope people take this to heart. Especially now that LLMs are a thing the rate of change in tech is going to speed up. CS graduates will need to work harder to keep up. Those that can&#x27;t or won&#x27;t will need a plan B,C,D... It&#x27;s not going to get easier. I saw how hard my older colleagues had to work to keep up when I started my career. After 20+ years in the industry, things have not changed and now it&#x27;s my turn to try to keep up. The industry chews people up and spits them out regularly. Nothing has changed.