Of course if you are retired, please weigh in with your coding status.
Ben Halpern
Posted on
Will you write code after you retire? How will your relationship with our craft change?
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Top comments (70)
Who can afford to retire?
where's the retweet button
For real though.
Precisely. Beat me to it π€£
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Preach thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i...
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Retire? I will be writing code for as long as I am of sound mind. If I am in a retirement village, undoubtedly I will still be working on side-projects and hacking on numerous things. A retirement home for programmers would be a wonderful thing actually.
Tbh I'm counting down the days until I'm financially stable enough to never code again π€£ It's a very comfortable job, but I view it as just that - a job.
I'm also surprised that I'm one of the first people to say no to that first question in the discussion π€
Thatβs interesting that you view it as a job but yet you find time to write articles about your craft. Iβm not questioning you, I just find it curious. Would you mind sharing more about this distinction?
Is it perhaps that you like writing as well?
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Update: I just read in your bio that youβre an ex-journalist. Thatβs solved that mystery! :)
Valid question! Writing articles is part of my current job, so that's why I've started writing more the past four months or so π In my previous company I was never given the time.
Even as a journalist though I never wrote articles that I wasn't compensated for. That's always been a clear distinction in my mind - but the line certainly gets blurred more often as a dev (especially with community events - like organizing meetups or speaking at conferences).
Thank you for the response. Thatβs very cool. We have such talented, multi-faceted people here. :) I always hear about peopleβs careers. And the distinction between someoneβs career vs. their passion vs. their calling vs. their hobby is always very interesting.
I think the beautiful part about life is that we have time to grow and change.
Personally, I might program after retirement but my main goal is to get a dog! πΆ
As in, that will be soon??
Huh, really? Here in the US devs are always telling you how much they love their work. Some of it's BS, some of it's genuine π€·ββοΈ Personally I'm more concerned with dedication than passion.
I really gotta remember this distinction since I usually feel less passionate than "I'm gonna hack in my free-time" but more passionate than "this is just a job".
Ha, yeah it is a balance between the two.
Yeah that surprised me too! While I generally enjoy coding, I don't think I want to continue coding when I retire. I've already spent enough hours in front of screens for a lifetime.
Hell, yes, if my head it's still working of course.
The moment I felt like I was making something work I swore to myself not to ever let go.
And perhaps also writing and even fishing, who knows.
I certainly hope too!
Coding is a great way to keep the brain active, something that's very important when aging. It's more interesting than doing cross word and sudoku puzzles. (IMHO)
I'd like to give back, use my powers for good.
I see myself working with an open source project, or a non-profit that could use an app.
Basically tinkering away without the deadlines and pressure.
Nah, I'm going off the grid :D
100 percent I will.
I see myself going two different ways.
Learn something I would not of done in my professional career. most likely a older technology at the time that has always interested me.
Stop chasing the new and best practices. I have already been doing this for 18 years. When I retire, this is the biggest source of burn out to some degree, as well as excitement. It may be nice to pick a stack I am happy with and just focus on creation. Specifically honing some design skills I am weak in.
I have always wanted to make a interactive childrenβs book for my kids. I think at this point in time, if I didnβt do it already, it would be for my grandkids. Art is what keeps me from doing it today.
My granddaughter LOVES Roblox, which is interactive gaming versus an interactive book. She's an only child, so she ends up at G&G house pretty often. She likes me to play as a separate character, someone who she can use to pick up when she wants to "take the wheel" and cart me around. The games are ok, about right for her age (7), but I am not sure what to make of them as they promote interacting with others (pick up/be picked up, invited to a party, etc.), but, thankfully, my granddaughter has been warned about "getting scammed" so she is happy when she has someone else, like me and grandma, to interact with. I realize that Roblox has a programming side to it that can be learned, along with a designer studio. If you spend a lot of time you could possibly make a game that could be monetized, but I think it would be neat just to create a game that would help children learn some kind of life skill. And Quinn would be all over it, she already wants to create Cat Mania and is a pretty good at drawing cat cartoons. I just don't know if I want to immerse myself in learning the platform because time becomes way more precious as you get older.
I don't think I will. It's hard to say how the software landscape will look in 30-40 years. But I'll probably pick some nice advanced topics. Like a quantum native programming language or a global consistent tritemporal database.
Probably not..
My goals are to enjoy life once I retire, travel, visit, rescue puppers, whatever I feel like..
But, if I do code, it will be a non-profit project.. making the world better, somehow.
But my first priority is to enjoy not hustling... and we'll go from there. :P
It's great to see how many people do enjoy coding in this thread they want to continue!
Coding is not a job for me anymore. Even when it was, it was a very minor part. I run a property business and write code for the business and for personal reasons.
If I ever retire, I doubt I'll be without solutions to problems that I can solve with code. So no, I can't imagine retiring from code.
If I retire, which is by no means a given, I will probably not code.
Partly because when I have time off nowadays I rarely code, and partly because by 2177 we'll all be saying, "Alexa, make me an app to remote-control grain production in Belgium" anyway.
I started coding at 10 before money was a thing. It was my natural curiosity and passion. I've since earned enough I don't need to work. I still am coding. When I sell up my businesses for an easy life or at the odd weekend or holiday when I relax I code. It's my natural desire to create and learn.
When I employ developers there are only two questions. The first is why did you get into programming. The answer I'm looking for is to solve problems, make things better, learn new things. The second is seeing how they react to something they don't know and I want them to ask why or figure it out (I'm looking for curiosity).
I think if your a programmer who got into it naturally out of curiousity and desire to learn new things then you will by knocking out pull requests in your care home.
If your in it the same reason people get a job at McDonald's (for the money) then definitely not.
For how it changes.. I find I develop more creatively when it's not pressured with work and client demands. I experiment. I try what I normally would not. And from that typically comes discovery and progression. So for all you employers out there take it from an employer and dev that developers work better when not confined or over pressured. Let their wings be free to fly.
Writing code is useful even if you don't have a job.
Writing programs make your computer much more useful.
So yea, I'll definitely continue to write code.
The question is about retirement, so of course it's about doing it professionally. In no way does the question imply that you are not a coder otherwise (unless it's been reworded since you posted your comment, of course... ;) )
I had more fun coding when I wasn't doing it professionally! :)
Yes, I think I will, because when I'll retire (and I have no clue of when it'll happen) I could do that just for the reason that got me into learning to code when I was a kid: it's so damn fun! π₯³
And also useful! There will be so much tech around us and so many more chances to bend them to my will!