Career mid-life crisis

[peskydonut]

Ever since I was a kid I wanted to work with computers. I learned some basic computer skills in junior high, majored in Computer Science in high school and then in college. At this point, I have spent almost 15 years in the industry, 10 of it as developer. The landscape has changed dramatically from the internet of my childhood and I've done my best to keep up. Now however, I am questioning whether I want to continue to do so...at least professionally.

I do still genuinely love tinkering with technology: learning, creating, solving, fixing, but all the career baggage that's piled on over the years is overshadowing that love. The constant threat of one's knowledge becoming obsolete (2 years later), dealing with overinflated egos, bad job interviews, the impending ageism, etc. I don't mean to paint such a morbid picture; no, I've been fairly successful and have provided a comfortable living for me and my family. I'm just exhausted.

Of course I realize these same "problems", and almost certainly new ones, exist elsewhere, but I still find myself daydreaming about leaving this career for something more fulfilling.

Wondering if anyone here has experienced a career mid-life crisis. How have you fared?

[BostonCharlie]

...

Of course I realize these same "problems", and almost certainly new ones, exist elsewhere, but I still find myself daydreaming about leaving this career for something more fulfilling.

Wondering if anyone here has experienced a career mid-life crisis. How have you fared?

I fell into programming during the dot-com boom. I didn't boom or bust, but since then I've gotten by as a freelancer. In addition, we have since invested in a couple residential income properties and we keep our nut small, as they say. I'm no real estate big shot, but I've gotta say that passive income is nice.

I lack the benefit of professional CS training, but I've always felt that the lower-level programming is less prone to fads. I like C, for example, and there just always seems to be a place for it. It tends to be used where speed and low-level control is required -- no room for fads. And regardless of the language, I like to think that the principles of good design would always apply.

Maybe try something a little different, like management or sales? I met a guy who was some kind of engineer at IBM -- this was a long time ago. His mentor suggested dipping a toe into sales, and he was quite surprised at how much he enjoyed it. He turned out to be good at it, too.

Another idea is academia. CS enrollment at universities is booming, but they have trouble keeping the best teachers because they can make more in industry.

[peskydonut]

...

Of course I realize these same "problems", and almost certainly new ones, exist elsewhere, but I still find myself daydreaming about leaving this career for something more fulfilling.

Wondering if anyone here has experienced a career mid-life crisis. How have you fared?

I fell into programming during the dot-com boom. I didn't boom or bust, but since then I've gotten by as a freelancer. In addition, we have since invested in a couple residential income properties and we keep our nut small, as they say. I'm no real estate big shot, but I've gotta say that passive income is nice.

I lack the benefit of professional CS training, but I've always felt that the lower-level programming is less prone to fads. I like C, for example, and there just always seems to be a place for it. It tends to be used where speed and low-level control is required -- no room for fads. And regardless of the language, I like to think that the principles of good design would always apply.

Maybe try something a little different, like management or sales? I met a guy who was some kind of engineer at IBM -- this was a long time ago. His mentor suggested dipping a toe into sales, and he was quite surprised at how much he enjoyed it. He turned out to be good at it, too.

Another idea is academia. CS enrollment at universities is booming, but they have trouble keeping the best teachers because they can make more in industry.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

Excellent point about passive income. It could alleviate the pressures of having to maintain traditional, full-time employment, and provide a buffer for some exploration (e.g. taking classes, freelancing, volunteering, etc).

Interesting insight on the low-level programming. My day-to-day is web development and I greatly favor working on the backend, because those technologies tend to be much more stable than the constantly changing frontend stack.