The problem is there is so much average and below average talent out there, even with 10 or 20 years experience. Work ethic also counts for more than experience. It is hard to sort the chaff from the wheat, so you are presumed to be shit/average until you can show otherwise. And any mistakes you make in the interview put you straight in the shit category. Im currently doing desktop Java and getting paid well for it and loving it. The last time i did desktop Java was back in 1998. So it's like going back in time.
Maybe the only reason I still work with / like C++ after seeing much much better is this old joke you probably haven't heard. A middle-aged mildly successful Romanian guy judging from the Tesla he descended from near Amsterdam's Red District goes to a known very pricey house, precisely because by price comes quality at least as rated from finding a solution to even the most weird requests. So guy says: I want a woman 5 feet tall, very muscular, hair on arms, feet and chest, smelling like sweat after a day cutting wood in the woods. Receptionist, slightly embarrassed asks him: but Sir, may I ask why? Guy replies: I miss home.
Yeah there is also the old saying 'You cant teach an old dog new tricks'. Also the nearer anyone gets to retirement age the less motivation there is to learn something new. If you are 55 and want to retire in a few years. Whats the point of learning new skills or working hard for that promotion.
Good point, never even thought about it. Like Gaussian, I don't plan to be still begging for bread on a monthly basis at 50. But like Gaussian, I'm 15 years short of the threshold you mentioned. And if and when I'll cross it, it's gonna be ME calling the shots. Which reminds me of another experience from high school. Like I saw in American high school / college shows, there's a lot of bullying here too. So when one of those guys bullied me, I asked: why? He said "coze they also did it to me". Evil begets evil on and on. If I could have stopped evil in high school I would but I couldn't. College, again. 20 years later same thing. Eventually if you wanna live, gotta accept it's just the way it is.
You have to know how to write software but you also need to know how to market yourself. As I embarked on my last job search late last year I positioned myself as a tech lead. Though I never officially had that title, I had the experience and was able to articulate it when interviewing. As an older developer, there are really a few categories for you. 1. Coding machine - you can be dropped into any situation and crank out a massive amount of quality code. 2. Tech lead - you can code and lead a team of developers. 3. Domain expert - you have expert level knowledge of a particular type of technology. The above is how Facebook categorizes their top developers.
Yeah I'm getting up there in age and really have to light it up on the interviews. As an older Dev, the only way to get hired is to demonstrate utter mastery of the subject at hand. Be able to expand upon the interviewer's questions, turn them around, puzzle them with deeper knowledge thereof. That being said, consulting roles are usually significantly easier to get (as opposed to full-time).
If you go that route, you might have missed the part of my post where I made clear that THE MOMENT YOU MISS A QUESTION IN THE 5-STAGES LONG, 3-HOURS PER STAGE WITH MULTIPLE TEAMS INTERVIEW PROCESS, YOU'RE OUT OF THE DOOR WITHOUT SECOND THOUGHT.
Pretty spot on, Fan27, you may still have a future in the industry at least for the time being Unfortunately for now I'm still making a buck almost solely as #1. Aiming for #3 though, with my trading ideas