I've been a professional C, Perl, PHP and Python developer.
I'm an ex-sysadmin from the late 20th century.
These days I do more Javascript and CSS and whatnot, and promote UX and accessibility.
As I get older (I'm mid-40s) I see one problem coming up again and again: the older devs have domain knowledge that's getting scarcer because the younger devs are using hip new technologies.
That sounds like a benefit, and a great reason to keep the older devs around, and even to pay them more because of supply and demand.
Except... except those devs get pigeonholed and don't get the opportunity in work to learn new technologies themselves. They never get put on those projects, because they're needed supporting legacy software. They get disillusioned.
// , “It is not so important to be serious as it is to be serious about the important things. The monkey wears an expression of seriousness... but the monkey is serious because he itches."(No/No)
I've seen this with the developer who hired me for my first position in a big Enterprise company.
It was difficult for him to jockey his responsibilities for maintaining older systems and getting access to work on the newer technology.
Despite his difficulties with English as a second language, he handled it deftly and, during a re-shuffle of responsibilities, made a deal to get transferred to a new position with more innovation work. But it took him a long time, and I saw many who did not have his political skill.
Looking back on it, I might have learned a thing or two about career "navigation" in large IT companies.
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As I get older (I'm mid-40s) I see one problem coming up again and again: the older devs have domain knowledge that's getting scarcer because the younger devs are using hip new technologies.
That sounds like a benefit, and a great reason to keep the older devs around, and even to pay them more because of supply and demand.
Except... except those devs get pigeonholed and don't get the opportunity in work to learn new technologies themselves. They never get put on those projects, because they're needed supporting legacy software. They get disillusioned.
I've seen this with the developer who hired me for my first position in a big Enterprise company.
It was difficult for him to jockey his responsibilities for maintaining older systems and getting access to work on the newer technology.
Despite his difficulties with English as a second language, he handled it deftly and, during a re-shuffle of responsibilities, made a deal to get transferred to a new position with more innovation work. But it took him a long time, and I saw many who did not have his political skill.
Looking back on it, I might have learned a thing or two about career "navigation" in large IT companies.