Exit strategies for aging programmers? How do you jump ship when it’s all you’ve done your whole life? /u/geocitiesuser CSCQ protests reddit

I’ve asked this before on occasion in various places. This subreddit is probably a bunch of younger people just starting out, so maybe not the best place, but I’d love to hear thoughts anyway.

I’m going to be 50 in the not so distant future. I have been programming for money since I was about 18. I was part of the dawn of the modern internet, and boy have things changed.

Programming for 30 years…. I’ll be honest, it went from something I loved more than anything in the world, to now I just kind of hate computers. I’m not as sharp as I was when I was 25, and the changing tech stacks and constantly changing libraries is just too much for me to keep tabs on at all times. Every time I learn something new, it is now deprecated and I’m expected to do “the same thing, but in a different way” and I just don’t find it enjoyable anymore.

Specifically I do web development on large to very large websites. A lot of php, a lot of javascript, a lot of css libraries like tailwind, and a lot of CMS like drupal and wordpress. Also a lot of never ending meetings. Sometimes I’ll touch other things like java or coldfusion.

The best ideas I’ve heard:

Going into management using my background + maybe a couple years of school building my own SaaS (which honestly sounds like a nightmare that isn’t guaranteed to succeed) Buggering off and building some random business based on different interests

All aren’t terrible ideas, none of them really tickle me.

What career changes are there, realistically, that will pay a livable wage and let me retire some day? As much as I dream of more physical, blue collar work, at my age that would be short lived.

Edit: Just want to say thank you for all of the thoughtful comments and discussion, I wasn’t expecting so many. I can’t respond to all of them, but know you have been seen.

I’ve asked this before on occasion in various places. This subreddit is probably a bunch of younger people just starting out, so maybe not the best place, but I’d love to hear thoughts anyway.

I’m going to be 50 in the not so distant future. I have been programming for money since I was about 18. I was part of the dawn of the modern internet, and boy have things changed.

Programming for 30 years…. I’ll be honest, it went from something I loved more than anything in the world, to now I just kind of hate computers. I’m not as sharp as I was when I was 25, and the changing tech stacks and constantly changing libraries is just too much for me to keep tabs on at all times. Every time I learn something new, it is now deprecated and I’m expected to do “the same thing, but in a different way” and I just don’t find it enjoyable anymore.

Specifically I do web development on large to very large websites. A lot of php, a lot of javascript, a lot of css libraries like tailwind, and a lot of CMS like drupal and wordpress. Also a lot of never ending meetings. Sometimes I’ll touch other things like java or coldfusion.

The best ideas I’ve heard:

Going into management using my background + maybe a couple years of school building my own SaaS (which honestly sounds like a nightmare that isn’t guaranteed to succeed) Buggering off and building some random business based on different interests

All aren’t terrible ideas, none of them really tickle me.

What career changes are there, realistically, that will pay a livable wage and let me retire some day? As much as I dream of more physical, blue collar work, at my age that would be short lived.

Edit: Just want to say thank you for all of the thoughtful comments and discussion, I wasn’t expecting so many. I can’t respond to all of them, but know you have been seen.