[VLM]

This dovetails nicely with the conventional wisdom that over 30s is unemployable in tech fields.

So either retire penniless in your 30s and never work in tech again, or retire with $5M in the bank in your 30s and never work in tech again.

Also if your gross is say $120K and you keep about $90K of it and save most of it to retire, living off maybe $30K which is more than most Americans get, 5e6/30e3 = a mere 166 years of retirement, assuming your investments return about the real world inflation rate, which is a fairly realistic goal. Of course $5M in the bank and $60K/yr invested means you will have to start your savings program at age -60 or so if you want to retire in your 30s.

Its probably a lot simpler to just contract like my Dad did. Do your thing when you need the cash, and when you don't need the cash, don't work for awhile. Nobody wants the programming contractor to advise the board at the end of a 16 hour day, especially when they see your hourly overtime rate.

[sillysaurus3]

Do your thing when you need the cash, and when you don't need the cash, don't work for awhile.

How would you explain the gaps in employment? It seems to be a popular question.

[a-priori]

I work at a startup with a development team of 9 people. Of those, one is in his 30s, two are in their 40s, and two are in their 50s. The rest, myself included, are late 20s.

Just because some parts of the tech industry fetishize young developers doesn't mean all of them do.