Member-only story
I’m approaching 50 so I start to have stronger doubts that I might not be able to keep as a programmer in the long run. Especially considering I don’t want to be a manager, no offense, I have some concern over my future, not only the money but also my self identity, which starts to become quite important I feel.
I had couple of interviews lately, and from the interview question aspect, the answer is yes. You can continue to be pure programmer. Here’s why.
The interview questions aren’t getting easier in any way, but also not getting drastically different over the years. There’re creative companies that try to find creative talents, so they draft questions in slightly different fashion, but overall they want to make sure you are smart. So in case you are, getting old doesn’t make you dumb that fast (maybe eventually, I can’t comment on that yet). And even if you aren’t that smart, one of the daily task being a developer is to make sure you become smarter every day. To be honest, this is one of the job description that I’d like you to keep for the life time.
People tend to use other skill set to compensate their lack of being smarter at older age. I think this is not the problem I’d like to address, at least that’s not the angle of being a PURE programmer. My suggestion, don’t go there. If…
