Life Philosophies for Aging Software Developers
While browsing thru various newsletters that had been piling up in my inbox lately I came across two articles that had similar themes and were written by people in my age group, more or less. Notice I said “in my age group”, that and an interest in writing software is about all we share but the theme still interests me.
The first article is “Reconsider” by David Heinemeier Hansson who goes by the moniker DHH most likely because its less likely to get misspelled.
DHH’s point is that the current path to software startup success via angel investors, venture capital, IPO’s, and offices in San Francisco is not very ennobling on a personal level. His message is encapsulated in the lines:
Don’t just accept this definition of “success” because that’s what everyone is cheering for at the moment. Yes, the chorus is loud, and that’s seductively alluring, but you don’t have to peel much lacquer off the surface to see that wood beneath might not be as strong as you’d imagine.
Or more succinctly:
Curb your ambition. Live happily ever after.
His evidence is his own software company “Basecamp” which, after twelve years still has less than 50 people. Yet by his measure, it is a success for him, his partners and employees, and their users.
This could come off as a “Sweet Lemons” story. He never made the billions so, of course, he meant it that way.
Or it could come off as a face the facts reality in your face story. Most people who chase the start-up dream, never get there and burnout trying. There is another route to happiness in the software world.
The second article is “Five Things Old Programmers Should Remember” by Gary Wisniewski who is not afraid to put his full name at the top of the article, regardless how hard it is to pronounce. Guy’s key message is wrapped in a quote he provided from an old Star Trek movie:
If I may be so bold, it was a mistake for you to accept promotion. Commanding a starship is your first, best destiny; anything else is a waste of material. -Spock.
His message is, being a better than average Systems Software engineer is better than a marginally good manager.
This is not new news. I think almost every engineer, developer, and sous chef has these same reflections. Some respond, others plow on.
Maybe I’m just feeling my age today but I came away from these articles at first wondering if there is a general schism among technologists between those who know no bounds and those who are realistic about their personal contribution to the technical infrastructure. This is not the first time I’ve written about articles on this theme. (see an earlier blog post: “About Smartness, or the appearance of…”) .
Yet another observation is that these authors, in all practical senses of the word, ARE accomplished and HAVE left a mark, or in the words of DHH they can say that they have made “a Dent in the Universe”. So even if these authors have chosen not to chase the billionaire dream, they can look back on what they have done and feel accomplished. This is STILL an elite group relative to all of the other developers in the world, myself included.
Gary Wisniewski quotes an IDC Survey that estimates that there are 18 million developers world wide, nearly half of which are “non-professional”. That is a lot of people writing code that don’t own their own software company or have their names in the industry newsletters.
So, I have to take these articles with a grain of salt as they don’t apply to me directly. Still, there is a smidgen of truth in them. Gary’s is the most valuable with the words:
To stay relevant, you have to retrain yourself to think like you used to think. You can’t be intimidated by the need to throw away everything you know away and learn a new language like Swift, Python, or Go.
I’m forcing myself to learn Python right now because it is one way to get my mind around machine learning and artificial intelligence. These topics interest me in an intellectual way only. I have no delusions about building a successful super-intelligence, let alone making money in the effort.
One thing I am doing is enjoying software development on my own terms and at my own pace. It’s not a sprint, its a journey for me. All I need to do to keep going is set the milestones realistically and not wait for other peoples approval for gratification.