> "it’s great to be a cog in a 9-to-5 machine: you get to go home in time for dinner every day and you probably have mental energy to spare when you do."
And then the cog's skills fall behind that of their peers, they slow down because of aging and other factors, and all of a sudden their resume is not attractive enough to overcome any ageism that exists in our industry, particularly if another dotcom bust happens or other economic crash happens. Game over.
Your career may not be your life but your career is definitely your meal ticket. And nobody should assume that the easy money for developers that exists today is going to be stay that way for the entire 40+ years of their working career.
Yes, your “cog skills” could at some point become obsolete (although less quickly than skills in the latest hype framework or technology). So even as a cog, to keep your meal ticket you should stay somewhat up to date. But this requires far less time and energy than what the author describes.
And even then, if someone wants to cash in easily now while the getting is good, and in a few decades becomes unemployable in IT, who’s the author to preach the gospel of “you need to have a resume worthy achievement four times a year or you are lost!” to them?
And then the cog's skills fall behind that of their peers, they slow down because of aging and other factors, and all of a sudden their resume is not attractive enough to overcome any ageism that exists in our industry, particularly if another dotcom bust happens or other economic crash happens. Game over.
Your career may not be your life but your career is definitely your meal ticket. And nobody should assume that the easy money for developers that exists today is going to be stay that way for the entire 40+ years of their working career.