Where Do All of the Old Programmers Go?

full-of-beans asks: "I work as a software developer for a large UK based international organization. Most of my colleagues that program are under 40 years old. Those that are over 40 tend to be in either Management or IT Support! I was wondering were do all the old programmers go? They can't all end up in management. I know we don't get paid enough to take early retirement. Is there some other career that tends to attract 40+ year old programmers, if so I'd like to know, because I'm not that far of 40 myself!"

Loony Bins

[Anonymous Coward]

They're all in sanitariums, driven insane by debugging assembler for countless hours.

Do not be afraid.

[douglips]

40 year old programmers are recycled into yummy treats called "cheetos" and fed to proto-programmers. It's the circle of life.

Re:First Post!

[grumpyman]

Ah that's what you do after 40 eh?

Old programmers?

[dr_dank]

Old programmers? Heavens no!

When their crystals turn color, they go through Carousel and are never heard from again.

Well....

[Anonymous Coward]

You ever hear of Mountain Dew? It's old programmers, I tell you! Mountain Dew is old programmers!

Silicon Heaven, of course!

[Tackhead]

> Where Do All of the Old Programmers Go?

Silicon heaven [nildram.co.uk], of course.

(No such thing as Silicon Heaven? Preposterous! Just ask the collection of HP calculators nobly enshrined atop the PDP-11 in my basement!)

Re:Do not be afraid.

[UnderDark]

not cheetos, soylent "Vista"

If we told you, we'd have to...

[ddent]

Fortunately you are almost 40 and won't have to be wondering in suspense for too long, but you can start saying your goodbyes to your friends and neighbours. Just tell them your going on a trip and you don't know exactly when you'll be back. We don't want to attract too much attention to our operations. At the stroke of midnight, we'll be dropping by. You can bring a couple boxes with you if you like, though you'll be well provided for even if you don't.

Old C programmers don't die

[bsartist]

... they're just cast into void*

Re:The Barrier

[kibbey]

Relax, all the old coders (like me) are still here fixing the crap the youngsters keep trying to pass off as working code.

Re:look forward to your exciting new career ...

[Fulcrum of Evil]

Younger IT workers are cheaper, and more familiar with newer technologies at the same time!

As a bonus, they can make the same old mistakes all over again!

Re:Old C programmers don't die

[tktk]

You don't you mean /dev/null ?

Re:If we told you, we'd have to...

[Anonymous Coward]

Let me guess ... you'll pull up in a big station wagon full of tapes?

Re:Unless you absolutely LOVE to code,

[StalinsNotDead]

By 50 if you are still staring at streams of code all day, you will fucking go blind.

This is Slashdot. According to popular theory most of us will have gone blind before 50 as a result of the other blindess-inducing activity.

Re:They get a life?

[el cisne]

"She's a curator at a Museum now."

Hey, depending on where you work, that might be the same thing as programming. Can I get a witness!!

Re:They're in one of a few places....

[Anonymous Coward]

Unisys

Re:Government Work

[__aaclcg7560]

That would explain why my mailman was browsing through my copy of Dr. Dobb's instead of the neighbor's copy of Playboy.

Re:Simple.

[mfrank]

Coders that are in their forties/fifties bought tech stock when it was cheap and sold before the crash. They're on a beach going "Excuse me? Excuse me, senor? May I speak to you please? I asked for a mai tai, and they brought me a pina colada, and I said no salt, NO salt on the margarita, but it had salt on it, big grains of salt, floating in the glass..."

Re:Do not be afraid.

[jkeene]

40 year old programmers are recycled into yummy treats called "cheetos" and fed to proto-programmers. It's the circle of life.

Sure, go ahead and recreate that food path for Creutzfeld-Jacob. You'll wind up with nothing but MCSEs and Flash designers, you whippersnappers!

Well billy, you see ... about your programmer

[RembrandtX]

the first thing that popped into my head :

"Well billy, you see ... about your programmer, he wasn't feeling so good anymore, and city life would be just mean. So Daddy put him in the car and drove him out to this WONDERFUL farm, where he could play in the sun, and see cows, run around having fun all day long. He seemed really sad at first, but Daddy said he REALLY enjoyed it there, we might be able to visit him eventually, once he is back to his old self."

Re:Do not be afraid.

[cratermoon]

Well at least now I'll finally be able to say to the young turks who love to produce bad code [thedailywtf.com] and come up the endless excuses to justify it: EAT ME!

When programmers turn 40.

[Mysund]

Everytime i turn 40, i recurse.

Re:They get executed when they turn 40 (nt)

[TheWanderingHermit]

It's more like when you reach 40, your life clock (that crystal on your palm) turns from red to black and you're on Lastday. At the end of the day, you go to Carousel, where you float into the air and explode. If you're lucky, you come back and get to do it again.

Since you're near 40, I'm sure you're thinking of running. Don't bother. There are Sandmen who will stop you, and then you don't get to go on Carousel for a chance to come back.

Re:Do not be afraid.

[authalic]

Interesting. I have to say you have a very soylent point there.

Re:Do not be afraid.

[LifesABeach]

Legend has it that there is a hidden valley. This is where the "old" programmers go. There the lan's flow at 100gb, there's total 3D emersion games, and software licenses cannot survive. PHB's can't see it, and Users read the GD Manual. I hear it calling me now.

Rats, its my boss asking how to reboot his "Etch-A-Sketch" Lap Top.

Thermodynamically speaking...

[Foerstner]

...wouldn't there be a significant net loss in metabolic energy recovered by re-processing older programmers to fuel the younger ones?

Re:Loony Bins

[Hal_Porter]

Notation Polish proper in write!

Kids Damn!

Modeling

[pottymouth]

I'm 41 and I still work as a full time programmer but I'm an underware model for big and tall men in my spare time.........