I think part of the skill with staying employed as you
get older is to ensure that you aren't simply looking for
work which justifies your massive experience as if you do
you're going to be fishing in a very small pool.
Yes. Experienced coders might need to accept that their experience is valuable, but that their experience and savvy does not equate to genius and/or the ability to succeed at programming tasks that only the top __% of highly-paid coding whizzes can aspire to work on.
Heck, a coder with 30 years of experience isn't even likely going to outproduce some offshore rent-a-coder in the short term.
Which is fine, really, because like you said: a bulk of commercial software development simply isn't that difficult in any technical sense. A lot of times it comes down to integrating various disparate systems and managing people (as well as avoiding pitfalls we learn to avoid over time) and those are places where somebody with experience can really shine.
Older coders should really work on people skills. Even if you're still an in-the-trenches coder, as you get a bit older, people are going to expect some leadership. Even if it's just some informal guidance of other team members.
The 20 year-old coding away with his headphones and never talking to anybody on is potentially charming; a 40 year-old doing it is just weird.
Heck, a coder with 30 years of experience isn't even likely going to outproduce some offshore rent-a-coder in the short term.
Which is fine, really, because like you said: a bulk of commercial software development simply isn't that difficult in any technical sense. A lot of times it comes down to integrating various disparate systems and managing people (as well as avoiding pitfalls we learn to avoid over time) and those are places where somebody with experience can really shine.
Older coders should really work on people skills. Even if you're still an in-the-trenches coder, as you get a bit older, people are going to expect some leadership. Even if it's just some informal guidance of other team members.
The 20 year-old coding away with his headphones and never talking to anybody on is potentially charming; a 40 year-old doing it is just weird.