Old School?

Yesterday Scott Johnson said that I rock because I'm an "old school" programmer (Scott - thanks for the kind words!).

Funny thing is, yesterday was my 39th birthday (yep, I'm one year away from the big four-oh) so it was kind of unnerving to hear that I'm old school already. But in the programming world, I guess I am old school - most of the coders I worked with in my twenties have either moved on to management positions or found another career. I can barely manage myself so management wasn't an option for me, and I have no desire to get into another field, so I guess I'll be coding until my fingers fall off.

Speaking of old school, the Red Hot Chili Peppers just put out the best album of their career. The double CD didn't grab me immediately (too many mid-tempo songs back-to-back), but now I can't stop listening to it (and I may never get "Storm in a Teacup" out of my head). Given that the Chili Peppers' lead singer is five years older than I am, I figure I can say my best work is ahead of me, too :)

Comments

[Sterling Camden]

Keep going, I'm 7 years older than you, and just getting to my best stuff!

[Killer Possum]

Ah yes, the new RHCP album is excellent! Though I have to admit, I was a sucker and got it through iTunes for $20 when Best Buy down the street had it for $13. Oh well it's a great album and worth it, and I got an "exclusive" 20 minute video.

[Hardy]

Bought Stadium Arcadium off of iTunes for the wife on Tues and after never having been a huge RHCP fan myself, and I have to say that it is definately a great album. The new Pearl Jam is good too, though maybe not as great a straight listen through. There is something about albums produced by Rick Rubin that bring the essence of a band out. Hope all is good. What's up with the new FeedDemon release? This is the first alert I have gotten that hasn't gotten a blog post...

[Scott Stroz]

I am 37, but did not get into programming until 5 years ago. Where does that put me?

[Mark Sicignano]

I'm 39 (40 if you round, but I prefer to just truncate.)

Until I was 37, I worked for other people. Had the most fun as a developer. Didn't like when I went into management, but that could because of the insanely depressing environment and a bully CEO that I reported to.

Now I'm off on my own. I hope to keep my hands on development and I do enjoy managing myself, with a business partner, and look forward to managing a few employes. The marketing and other aspects of the job are fun to.

it's never too late to do your best work. Don't any of you despair. Just have fun.