Do you really want to earn so much at 50?

Do you really want to do this at 50?

Well, I didn’t really want to do this when I was 20. I did it for money. And while there is money in programming, I’ll probably continue.

What else would you like to do at 50? Name the profession at least approximately similar to programming in the following:

• Requirements for formal education are basic or absent
• Good compensation, even for mediocre workers.
• Millions of jobs
• No physical effort.
• No health or legal risks.

Programming is money for nothing. Programming is very simple, but extremely difficult to quit. What else would you do?
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I work with three lawyers - two became programmers, and the third - a project manager. I have not met programmers who have become lawyers. But I know an engineer - not a programmer - who became a patent lawyer (in his words: “once, you start being outraged that your manager is the same age as your children”). Would you like to become a patent lawyer at 50?

I had a manager who decided that he would be a better school teacher, thinking that this occupation was more useful to society. He quit after 8 months, saying in his farewell interview to a well-known newspaper: “Sometimes I just want to enter the class with a machine gun and open fire.” He now works at Samsung and feels that his contribution to creating visualizers for smartphones brings significant benefits to society .

One of my colleagues at work has long been studying a whole bunch of things. He has a degree in psychology and in something called the Visual Theater. He worked part time programming all the time to finance his studies. Programming is part of his visual presentations (in which computer music participates). Most likely, he will program to provide his art classes. I don’t think he has a plan to quit programming at some particular point.

I saw a lot of people who “quit” to start learning anything from physics to philosophy, but returning back to programming. Money is addictive. Of course, there are many other sources of satisfaction - why I keep this blog for free - but a significant part of this satisfaction is caused by demand , directly or indirectly, and therefore is very closely connected with money. “Creating something useful” and “making money” are close relatives.

Of course, you could earn so much that you do not need a job. But, most likely, you will not earn, and therefore programming is your plan B. In addition, material goods have one quality - they are easy to take away. I am from Soviet Russia, so I tend to exaggerate the likelihood of this, but in reality, property can be easily confiscated and today paper money may become paper tomorrow. And the CCCR is not unique in this; The United States confiscated gold from its citizens at about the same time as the USSR. However, professional skills cannot be confiscated. Therefore, a prudent programmer (paranoid?) Will make some efforts to keep in good shape, even if he is provided so that he can afford not to work.

Professional programming is said to be stressful. But, again, compared to what? Doctors work? The work of a lawyer? Respond to calls from furious customers, while your answers are recorded for follow-up?

What kind of stress? Programmers who at least somehow know how to program — for example, they can correctly print a binary tree — are in great short supply. This deficit does not make it so easy to command programmers. You can try to intimidate them into uninterrupted overtime, but they quickly realize that this is a market for sellers and that you are essentially bluffing. You have no one to replace them.

With demand exceeding supply, there is enough space for everyone in programming. This leads to a less competitive environment than, say, in financial / investment services. Also, programmers are usually protected from customers and senior management - people are always right, which makes communication with them a bit tedious.

Timing? Of course, we have them, like everyone else. But let's admit - we have a tendency to violate them, and it is not so stressful for us, if only we do not steam. If you have been given unrealistic deadlines, and you try your best, and you don’t have time, you can suffer deeply or remain in harmony with yourself. The fact is that your material well-being is rarely threatened due to the fact that you did not have time, so your reaction depends entirely on you.

It is said that programmers cannot fully understand what is happening with all these APIs and layers and so on. And if you do not understand the environment in which you work, then this causes stress and is just not fun. Fair enough; but again - who understands their environment better than a programmer? Doctor rummaging through the guts of a patient? Lawyer perepepachivayuschaya legal documents? An investor who sells derivatives? A manager controlling the work of 10 or 20 programmers? With all the self-imposed complexity, we are still in a better position than most.

The fact is that there are quite a few fifty-year-old programmers around. But does this mean that people do not survive in this industry? More likely, this is simply the result of growth. 30 years ago there were a few 20-year-old programmers when compared with the situation 10 years ago. Therefore, today 50-year-old programmers are less than 30-year-olds. In 20 years the situation will be different, proportionally to the slowdown in programming.

Therefore, I do not plan to quit programming, not because it is such a huge source of happiness in itself, but because it looks so good against almost everything else. Perhaps not the most "passionate" statement, but passion burns out, while greed is stable. And if you plan to quit programming, I’m wondering what you chose as an alternative, and I won’t be surprised if you return to programming in a few years.