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Join For FreeI'll be 40 in
two months, which made me think about the ungrateful high-tech market
that employs more than 15M software developers worldwide. At this age,
software developers face the tremendous stress of being too young to
retire, yet too old to continue in their profession.
Well, I'm 40 in just a couple of months; I'll probably write from an entirely different aspect in another 10 years. ;) Good luck!
These techies will find themselves and their families in a place that
they need to get used to the fact that although they have much more to
contribute, their position is under the threat of age. Now I know that you are thinking to yourself after reading the first
few lines of this blog, "Well, there are anti-age discrimination laws."
or "In the worse case scenario, I'll be back in a developer position."
Nevertheless, believe me, time flies and before you can say
"interoperability", you will find yourself trying to convince your HR
department that you can take that open position published in your
company's job portal.
If you're still reading this blog, it means that you either knew the
guy in the next cubicle that didn’t show up after the age of 40 or that
you are looking for a way to remain employable beyond this age.
For the past 10 years, I've worked in various management positions, all
in the high-tech industry. I've held positions from senior HR to CEO in
small-to-medium sized companies, and from start-ups to a huge IT
services provider. Drawing on my experience, I've gathered the "10 commandments" of staying young and innovative while becoming older and wiser.
The 10 commandments of building a techie career – recommended reading before the age of 40
- Don’t marry the first one:
Ill start with the toughest – by the age of 40 you should be ready for
"marriage". You should come to this relationship after you have had one
or two mates. In doing so, you not only gain experience, but you will
be able to choose the right "mate" for you. Don’t misunderstand me;
this first commandment does not suggest that you should move between
companies yearly, but I strongly recommended that you search for a new
place every 4 to 7 years. You might be lucky and even get promoted or
learn new material.
- The Core:
Be connected to your organizational core; don’t be in a position which
merely supports other "important" projects or systems. Be there to
create your company's revenue, be there to support the customer; think
billable!
- Open your mind:
Switch to another technology, at least once in 10 years. It doesn’t
matter what you think about the software language you use, it’s a fact
that software changes. Anyway, if you were good, you can always switch
back. On the other hand, if you only know one language, you might find
yourself trying to speak French, just because it was there before.
- Manager or Guru:
Every software developer reaches a point at which he either chooses to
be an architect or a technical guru within his zone, or leaves software
behind and becomes a manager. If you have been a developer for more
than five years and didn’t get to this point yet, get your resume ready
for the age of 40!
- Tools and technologies:
You must know more tools than what you use! I mean that it doesn’t
matter that you are using FireFox, Windows, Linux, or whatever internal
framework your company implemented; know them all, know the
alternative; so it will generate activity around you in times of change
and much more than that – you might lead a change!
- Open Source:
At least once in your career be committed, or even better, create an
open source project; you will be surprised at the amount of help you
can receive from fellow developers, new ideas, and the quality of code
you can create. In addition, it will help you to respect the following
commandment…
- Networking:
It's not about you, but the people you connect with, and NO, I don’t
mean just your friends but their friends as well. Get into LinkedIn,
Facebook, Naymz, or others to build your professional network – market
yourself every day, and get more connected.
- Change management:
Always be familiar with new technologies out-there, I remember when C++
or Cobol developers were laughing about Java saying "There is no need
to know this Internet-oriented language" and they didn’t update their
knowledge when it replaced the software at their bank or insurance
company. You might ask yourself while reading this section if you know
what Scala, Fantom, Objective C or Ruby are?!
- Social engagement: Keep going to the company's social events even though you sometimes feel too old for that.
- Stop saying "Cobol will be here forever"!!!
Well, I'm 40 in just a couple of months; I'll probably write from an entirely different aspect in another 10 years. ;) Good luck!
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