[countessa]

Unsurprising really - most older programmers I know are fed up with solving the same problems over and over again with whatever the new technology happens to be. After a while, writing what amounts to CRUD by and large is pretty dull.

[zimpenfish]

I'm an "older" programmer and I love doing basic CRUD for work. Largely because it can pay very well, is reasonably hard to get wrong (= happy management = renewed contracts = happy me) and takes very little of my limited brain power.

If I want risky projects that might be spectacular failures, I'll do them in my spare time -- I really don't want those in front of the people signing my pay cheques...

[seanmcdirmid]

When you are young, you can make risky bets with your retirement investments; not so much when you are older when you should be preferring safer bets instead.

I would think that the same is true with career management, especially after you 30 something and have a family to worry about.

But to be honest, the amount of age discrimination in our industry has me really scared about getting older.

[beobab]

"Especially after you 30 something" Ouch! That's not old! :) (am i old - oh noes!)

[zimpenfish]

Bloody hell, if 30 is old, there's a glue factory looming in my immediate future.

[seanmcdirmid]

I think the "having a family" part is more important in than being 30+, though the two events are often correlated.

[quaffapint]

Bada bing - That's where things get serious. You can go play with the startups, but once you have a family to support, whether you're 28 or 48, you need to do what needs to be done, whether it's your favorite or not. Luckily for me, I have the opportunity to still program and not be stuck in management, but there are many that didn't have that choice to keep a steady paycheck.

[henrik_w]

"Older" programmer here (I'm 46). I disagree. We're not solving the same problem over and over (at least not where I've been working). It's the opposite - once you've solved a problem with code, you can reuse it. Sure, it doesn't work out perfectly, but for the most part, it's new stuff.

I've been programming for > 20 years, and I still love what I'm doing. A big part of that is being able to create new things every day. Fred Brooks wrote very eloquently about "The Joys of the Craft" in the book "The Mythical Man-Month". My comments/take on it: http://henrikwarne.com/2012/06/02/why-i-love-coding/

[coldcode]

55 here, writing iOS apps currently and still enjoying it. I still maintain a programming blog and continue to learn new stuff at a faster pace than I did when I started. Everything I do is something new.

[henrik_w]

You should link to your blog in your HN profile. Always fun to check out what the HN commenters are up to.