Last weekend I competed in an aerial art competition. I was the oldest competitor. I was older than the parents of most of the competitors. The young woman who helped with my makeup called me “tannie” (which I hate).
People told me I was “an inspiration”. I like that, even if I suspect what they really meant is “Aren’t you too old for this?”. Physical capabilities aside, I was much calmer than the younger competitors. Because I’m old enough to know what matters. And experienced enough to choose the thicker safety mat.
The forgotten superheroes
The IT industry constantly moans about the lack of skills. Despite government incentives, companies don’t want to employ young graduates. They have limited skills, no experience, and need lots of mentoring. And they don’t stay after you’ve invested time and money in them.
But there’s a whole pool of skilled professionals right here. Older developers are the forgotten superheroes. They might wear bifocals instead of capes, but they know how to write code someone else can read.
These tech veterans have real skills. Systems thinking, database sanity, and the ability to debug without Googling “how to debug”. They’ve survived the rise and fall of technologies, from COBOL to microservices. They are battle-tested. They are resilient. They are … not invited to the interview.
The invisibility cloak
An Oracle developer with 30+ years of experience told me that recruiters won’t consider him – even when his skills are a perfect match. At 60, he will be productive for longer than the average 28-year old stays at a company.
In the SA tech industry, you receive an invisibility cloak when you turn 50. You’re still there. You’re still coding. But recruiters can no longer detect your presence.
You apply for a job that says “5+ years experience”. You have 25. They say you’re “overqualified”. You are literally qualified. They say “We’ll keep your CV on file”. That file is the recycle bin.
The future starts now
Robert Martin — aka Uncle Bob — co-wrote the Agile Manifesto and created the SOLID principles. He’s the high priest of clean code.
Martin wrote a an eye-opening article about why older programmers matter. It should be required reading for people who make staffing decisions.
He describes all the ways in which seasoned developers add value, and why they should be well paid. He explains the consequences of not having enough seniors:
“It means that most software teams will remain relatively unguided, unsupervised, and inexperienced. It means that most software organizations will have to endlessly relearn the lessons they learned the five years before. It means that the industry as a whole will remain dominated by novices, and exist in a state of perpetual immaturity.”
There is a myth that young programmers are better because they are cheap, energetic, and produce more code. Martin describes that as “very foolish”. That’s like choosing a contractor because they use more cement, not because the house stays up.
Young programmers are the bricklayers. They build fast. Older programmers are the structural engineers. They make sure the building won’t collapse when you add a third floor and a rooftop pool. You need both. But only one of them knows where the load-bearing walls are.
We need to mentor young developers. But we can’t do it without old developers.
I’d love to hear your comments.