maximum age for IT professionals

[badkuk]

how old is the oldest software developer/sys admin/IT professional you know -- as in purely technical lang ang ginagawa?

just wondering out loud...i've been in the business for over a decade now...i have to admit i am at the crossroads, actually for the past few years na. i still think i have enough in the gas tank for the next 3-5 years...pero after that, what?

i have this notion(pasintabi po sa mga forumers in their 40s; if it's any consolation i'll be joining your ranks in a few years B), that once you hit 40, generally your tech skills go downhill. pansin ko rin sa mga wanted ads, companies generally specify 35 as an upper age limit.

Of course there are exceptions; personally i know someone in his mid/late 30s na matindi pa ring developer. For other professions like business, finance, and maybe even medicine, that may not be true, but i'm not so sure about IT.

i guess some guys are lucky enough to get into a company that really takes care of you professionally, so maybe they can slowly wean you out of the more technical stuff(in some cases, whether you like it or not B) and more towards management...but what if you're not that lucky?

medyo OT pero tanong ko na rin: how can you train a techie to become a manager?

tia

[slamtaz]

Kapatid, palagay ko ay walang magiging epekto ang edad sa kahit na anong trabaho o propesyon, except when age is a necessary consideration... Para sa akin kasi, you have to:

• be like a Sword - in maintaining your cutting edge thru continuing training, education & other means of improvement
• be like Wine - as you get better with age and by maximizing your experience to your advantage
• be like an Ink - in making sure you stand-out and leave your mark/impresssion and that your contributions/accomplishments are recognized
• be like a Tiger - in ferociously and decidedly jumping into an opportunity when it presents itself
• be like a Chameleon - in always adapting to the ever changing work/business environment. If you don't adapt/change - you'll perish!
• be part of a Herd - by acting in unison, be a teamplayer in achieving synergistic results towards a common goal & maintaining harmonious relationship

In short, be like a SWITCH - you should be in control and have the discipline to maintain it.

These are my very own words :twocents: in guiding myself, my family and in dealing with those who, i had & currently have the opportunity to work with...

As for luck... not to be rude but pls see my sig...

:Off-Topic2: I love numbers and have decades of experience. Pero sa totoo lang, i'm actually now in the midst of exploring/learning IT stuff to supplement/complement what i love and have no qualms doing it because for me, that's part & combination of "S" and "C" above.

So, to address the thread title: "maximum age for IT (or whatever) professionals", as long as you're fit enough to observe the above, i believe there is none...

HTH

[badsekktor]

medyo short lived yun techie ko... swerte lang siguro since yun superior eh umalis na

[empy]

one of my peers is a 55 y/o development and MIS guy for one of the Fortune top 50 companies. he helped develop all the risk modeling systems and is still the best programmer in his department (he's the department head). he's forgotten more about DB management than his people know, and he has sterling credibility with his people, and senior managers.

it's not how old you are, it's how much you invest in continuous learning and the discipline to be the best.

how do you train a techie to be a manager? i think you need the right raw materials. pick someone who is ambitious, and has good relationship/people skills (yes, i know it's a stereotype that programmers have no social skills but it's not always true :D ). in a team setting, try to find the person who is seen as a leader by his peers, and is comfortable taking charge. then start giving that person small management responsibilities, like organizing a team activity or leading a special project. then give him small people responsibilities like having the summer interns report to him, or the temporary contractors...

after a little while you'll see if he's manager material. at least this is what i do and it works for me :2thumbsup:

[empy]

double fost

[slamtaz]

one of my peers is a 55 y/o development and MIS guy for one of the Fortune top 50 companies. :2thumbsup:

boss empy, makapagtanong lang po... ang ibig nyo po bang sabihin ng "peer" ay kasing edad?

[nicolodeon]

I know a guy whio's in his 50's that still is a developer and likes being a developer. I don't think there should be an age limit (IMO). The thing with 90% of Philippine companies is that if you're an applicant and you're over 35, you're not qualified already. Medyo may discrimination din ng kaunti dito sa atin. I've experienced this sort of discrimination in more than one occassion: just because I was over 35, I didn't make the cut. Sinabi mismo sa akin nung mga nagi-interview" Sorry Mr. *****. Technically you're more qualified but you're over our hiring age limit."

IMO some people are born to be managers, some people are not (note to threadstarter: no offense to you, kind sir.) Why did I say this? Well, I've had my fair share of being under good and bad managers. Some of them were technically brilliant but had zero charisma, leadership and people skills. In times of crisis, a number of them passed the buck and burned the arses of my colleagues just to save his/her butt. Some of my managers naman eh hindi ganun kagaling technically, pero ang galing mag-strategize, had excelllent people skills and knows how to back-up his/her people sa management. So, my take on this is: even if a person has tons of managemen training under his/her belt, these are no guarantees that he/she will become a good manager. Nasa pagkatao rin yan. Take it from me: been there, done that. Got the shirt to prove it.

My analogy for the staff/manager thingy is this: there are great basketball players but not all great basketball players become great coaches.

Take a Briggs-Myers test. The result you'll get will give you an insight of what personality type you are and you can deduce from the results if you've got the right stuff to become a manager.

Good luck to you buddy.

[mazdamazda]

Wala naman... kita mo si nicolodeon... still going strong after all these years. :hysterical:

Unless of course you encounter some narrow-minded organizations or individuals who impose a certain age limit.

:boo:



__________________

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[nicolodeon]

Wala naman... kita mo si nicolodeon... still going strong after all these years. :hysterical:

Hmm...mukhang may maba :banned: akong dating imperyalistang teh mod ah.

:lol:

[Mguy]

One thing I learned in this business is that you have to evolve, if not, your career will stagnate.

I've been here for more that 2 decades na and started off as a programmer, eventually after there was a shift in programming style and languages, I had to veer away and started to act as a project manager, designing and implementing systems rather than writing them. I had some techie background and had the opportunity to become as well as a system administrator then head of operations. Now, support consultant for a software na ako. If I stayed as a programmer until now, I would be competing with newbies who are asking for much lower pay.

So, I'd suggest that you evolve to the next available career path for you.

[flakez]

ako kaya hanggang kelan magiging programmer. hahaha. sana maging pm din ako someday. ehehehe

[empy]

oist slamtaz...ibig sabihin ng "peer" eh magka-level kami sa company, hindi edad

[ess]

The problem here in this country is the career path for IT people.
Here, no matter how one loves or is passionate about programming, there'll come a time where one leave behind the debugger and be promoted to a supervisorial or managerial position. Wala atang career growth dito ang pure programmer. I myself had to bite the bullet and swap DevStudio/NetBeans for blechhhh...MS Word and MS Project..blechhH!!!!...for the sake of career growth.
Nakakainggit when I see 50+ year old folks in the US who are still programming, yet earn the same salary level as their managerial counterparts.

In a previous company I worked for, programming is limited to job grades, SE1-SE3. Once you hit SE4, you'll have to start managing people. One time, we were visited by engineers from our main branch in the US. Grabe. He's 55years old. His rank is SE13. He's not handling any people.

[ess]

The problem here in this country is the career path for IT people.
Here, no matter how one loves or is passionate about programming, there'll come a time where one leave behind the debugger and be promoted to a supervisorial or managerial position. Wala atang career growth dito ang pure programmer. I myself had to bite the bullet and swap DevStudio/NetBeans for blechhhh...MS Word and MS Project..blechhH!!!!...for the sake of career growth.
Nakakainggit when I see 50+ year old folks in the US who are still programming, yet earn the same salary level as their managerial counterparts.

In a previous company I worked for, programming is limited to job grades, SE1-SE3. Once you hit SE4, you'll have to start managing people. One time, we were visited by engineers from our main branch in the US. Grabe. He's 55years old. His rank is SE13. He's not handling any people.

[empy]

the problem with staying a "pure" programmer forever is that you can only add so much value to a company as an individual contributor. kahit gano ka kagaling, you can only do so much with the hours you have in a day.

to grow career-wise and compensation-wise, you must continue to increase the value you add. you can only do that by grooming and developing talented people to work under you, and being responsible for a bigger and bigger scope of work. that's why people leadership is so crucial.

nico, btw the Myers Briggs test is only designed to tell your personality and decision-making style, and how others can best relate to you. it isn't a test of management potential...any MB type can be an effective manager - they just have to work with the style that they have

[mazdamazda]

the problem with staying a "pure" programmer forever is that you can only add so much value to a company as an individual contributor. kahit gano ka kagaling, you can only do so much with the hours you have in a day.

to grow career-wise and compensation-wise, you must continue to increase the value you add. you can only do that by grooming and developing talented people to work under you, and being responsible for a bigger and bigger scope of work. that's why people leadership is so crucial.

nico, btw the Myers Briggs test is only designed to tell your personality and decision-making style, and how others can best relate to you. it isn't a test of management potential...any MB type can be an effective manager - they just have to work with the style that they have

Wise advise...

Lots of pencil-pushing, finger-pointing and arse-kissing if you want to get up fast.

:rofl:

[boydapa]

langhya dont tell me dito sa bansa natin ultimo IT may age limit na naman eh wla naman halos ako ginagawa kundi nakaupo at mag isip ah---kng may maisip joke! hehe

pati ba naman yan may age limit na naman. talaga tong mga kumpanya dito di mo malaman gzto pag bata ka sasabihin wla po kayo experience ah pag tumanda ka naman konti sasabihin overexperience na kayo. kaya no wonder wlang pinapatunguhan

dapat bago mag 35 wla nako dito sa pinas.

[daimengrui]

Correct me if im wrong but aren't companies nowadays offer Technical Architect positions for those techy people not wanting to be in the managerial track? in which the Tech Archi is of equal footing in terms of benefits and comp as that of the manager.

Tech architects nowadays are in their 40s /50s with more than a decade of technical experience.