I'm 30 and a senior programmer. What should I be doing to ensure I have career options at 50? Is management inevitable with individual contribution primarily reserved for scrappy youngsters?
I think this goes without saying: never stop learning.
The people that are resourceful will always find a way. Sometimes this may mean on your own, sometimes with a group. But as long as you can keep learning and just 'do things', you will be light years ahead of those that don't know what to do and look to other people to tell them.
From Steve Jobs:
"Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use."
It's hard sometimes (a lot of the time??) to get over that bit where 'no one is smarter than you'. (I'm not as smart as a Google PhD, am I??..) Once you can and you chart your own course because you are resourceful and confident and someone who can do things, then you won't need to ask the question you asked. :)
I would say there are generally a couple options:
1. Yes, first is straight-forward dev management.
2. I would say another option related to #1 is to go into PRODUCT management, which can then lead to higher level product responsibilities. Someone who is a great product manager who ALSO has a deep technological understanding of implementation options is a real rarity and extremely valuable in today's job market.
3. If you do want to be spending the majority of your time writing code at 50, you need to do everything you can to be a complete expert in some technology. You'll need to change with the times as that technology evolves and pick up new skills, but lots of technologies have lifespans longer than we may think. For example, Java has been around for 20 years already, C++ for over 30, and there is still loads of running technology that uses these languages.
The people that are resourceful will always find a way. Sometimes this may mean on your own, sometimes with a group. But as long as you can keep learning and just 'do things', you will be light years ahead of those that don't know what to do and look to other people to tell them.
From Steve Jobs:
"Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use."
It's hard sometimes (a lot of the time??) to get over that bit where 'no one is smarter than you'. (I'm not as smart as a Google PhD, am I??..) Once you can and you chart your own course because you are resourceful and confident and someone who can do things, then you won't need to ask the question you asked. :)
Good Luck! (I'm still on this journey)