Careerwise?

A colleague of mine once was asked (by a sales guy): "How long are you going to stay in software development?". The question had an implicit second part: "before you start thinking about a real career?".

This attitude is quite common. Many people think that technology is something you do for a couple of years before you start your real career in the land of middle management. Anyone still programming after 30 has no ambition or is socially inept.

It is not so much that technology is regarded as second-rate stuff (although this plays a part), the thinking is more in the line of why would anyone with 10 years of experience want to do the same work as any 23 year old computer whiz kid can do?

This breeds a kind of catch 22 situation. Since very few people understand the difference between an apprentice and a master when it comes technology, the latter ones don't get credit and compensation that match their skills. To get this, they have to become middle managers, which proves the point that nobody with ambition stays in technology.

And there we stand, with too few masters and too many apprentices, and projects failing because the teams don't have the right skills.

What we must do is learn to value experienced programmers and create alternative career paths for them. Not all great programmers make good managers; some of them don't even make good technical leads. Let them stay programmers, but give them credit and compensation for being excellent at what they do.