[weavie]

I imagine any career path you specialize in can be considered a trap. The more time you invest in, the more it feels like you have to stick with that path so that time doesn't get wasted.

My friend who was a plumber recognized this. He also realised that plumbing is not something that you want to be trapped in. As you age it get's harder and harder to be constantly crouching down and contorting yourself into those hard to reach areas. So he jumped ship and is retraining as an architect.

Programming doesn't have that limitation. Barring the odd bit of RSI there is nothing to stop you coding until the day you drop.