First, I want to say you guys are real heroes and pioneers. Without the solid work you had contributed, tech won’t bloom like this today. But also interesting and curious to see other sides given this industry’s pace. So... How is work? Keeping up with technologies, aggressive young kids, etc How is family? Kids schools, day care, youth problems How is life? Fully occupied? Got some free time? Etc... How is retirement preparation? All ready? On track? Still working on it? How are you doing?
We’ll make it to where they are if we’re lucky enough to stay alive. Not a bad idea to look into the future.
Are u guys leetcoding ?
I work with two devs in mid 50s. One was promoted to director role but didn’t like the stress now codes again. They’ve worked with the same code base for 20 years so obviously they’re very good
We'll get some anti-survivorship bias in this post, since the really good ones managed to retire in their thirties.
Shots fired Infensus.. how’s Cisco day care by the way?
That is bs, Cisco. I could probably retire but back at Microsoft when I had 3 stock splits, tons of people retired, blew their money, and came back. There's a lot of luck in retiring early. And I did a little leetcode last time. In my 50s, last interview cycle 2 years ago 4 interviews, 4 offers. So suck it, youngen.
I am 40, leetcoding, and trying to get out of the Midwest. 20 YOE - I was a teen father and did not have 4 years for school. My kids are nearly grown and the reason why I'm finally ready to get out of the Midwest. Techwise my first professional gig was maintaining a VB6 app. After that I worked with .net many years (it is big out here). I switched to Ruby and JavaScript in 2008. I like to think I keep up. My latest project is a ton of AWS (DynamoDB, API Gateway, Lambda, CloudFront, CloudFormation), Serverless framework, GraphQL (Apollo), and Preact. I genuinely enjoy programming so keeping up isn't a problem. My market has limited options for boosting TC. Engineers hit ~130K. If you want more income you need to go into management or go independent. I went independent. I bill around 110/hr Corp to Corp. My wife has insurance through her work so it works out nicely. I was a single father for many years and I did end up completing my CS degree. I'm currently working on my MS in CS. Some of the posts here have me a little discouraged. I know I'd be downleveled heading out to the west coast. I'm not willing to downgrade my lifestyle for a chance to run with the big dogs so I might be stuck out here for good!
Cool post
Don’t move here. It’s so hard buying a house unless you have some established wealth or a partner who also makes a good amount. Plus, you have to deal with California legislators and high taxes.
Doing well, approaching 50, thinking about retiring at 55, but kids will be in college at that time...so may work a bit longer. I still have fun everyday at work, but I also work with most of my best friends. My house will be paid off soon, then the stock piling of retirement cash will ramp up, just in time to help out with college. I would definitely recommend someone in college to choose something other than Software engineering, but I’ve enjoyed nearly every day at work in the 25 years I’ve been working, so no real complaints.
By the way, just started leet coding because you guys continually talking about it, but I haven’t interviewed in nearly 15 years, so it’s more of a break in my day thing right now.
Just curious -if you enjoy your work why do you recommend choosing something else other than Software eng?
45 and approaching retirement (weeks).
Care to share details?
Worked my ass off for 18 years and saved a ton of money. My expenses are now below the a=1%/b=0.5 CAPE10 SWR (~2.7%, a very conservative rate). Never had a big hit but piled everything extra into broad based index funds. I’m waiting for the next bonus round.
Great questions. I feel I am lucky... Living the 2000 boom was special. Seeing the technical revolution every decades and being in the middle of it has been a great ride. Northern California is a great place to live. The oldies (40/50) have their home when it was much cheaper. Housing is problem solved. The money you make in Bay Area allows you to retire comfortably in most area in the world. The only question is if you can retire in bay area or not. I think we are in the golden age of computer science. High TC, interesting work, so many perks. If I had an advice for younger generation, take good calculated risk. If you play too safe, life in computer science can get boring.
This
Life isnt much different outside of software....everything is changing quickly....software is just a tool.
Very good post
Sometimes Trump asks really good questions
This is what the President should do. Thanks