DevOps Articles

Challenging the Myth That Programming Careers End at 40

The question-and-answer site Quora may have strayed into a stereotype, when a user asked the loaded question, “Is software development really a dead-end job after age 35-40?” I am a 65-year-old software engineer who has worked for Apple, Adobe, eBay, Microsoft, VMware, Cisco, FileMaker, XO Communications, 2Wire, Egnyte, Nexsan, and two other start-ups,” Ussery wrote.

And in 1996, Intel‘s president and co-founder Craig Barrettquipped that “The half-life of an engineer, software or hardware, is only a few years.”

Last month came an emphatic answer from Gregory Smith, who writes that he began his career in 1976 at the age of 14, and now, approaching his 60s, is still working as a software engineer/computer scientist at Agile Frontiers.

These are the people who thrive in software development because to the right mindset, it’s a never-ending state of wonder and awe.