Not a profession for old men

So, I am looking around at the moment and I notice something.

There are very few old developers. Lets say 45 - 55 is 'old' - it certainly seems to be for software development. It got me thinking - where do they all go? Assuming that we need to keep working to at least 55 (let's face it, it's going to be more like 70), that leaves a lot of time to do... er, what?

It is a little worrying if you ask me. This is still a young industry but we seem to have chopped a minimum of 10 years off the career path. I tried thinking of other industries that have a similar sort of cut off and not many sprung to mind.

Professional athletes have a physical cut off, although there are the odd few who carry on through to their 40s. Although, golfers seem to carry on into their 50's (my wife insists this does not count since golf is not a 'sport'). Call centre staff seem have a natural cut off in the amount of abuse they can take so they tend to be younger, which is just an observation.

I think a lot of this is down to presumptions. We presume that someone who is older cannot or will not change, but surely this is down to the individual? Some people respond to change and embrace it, others don't - might be more prevalent as you grow older but it is not unique to older people. I often find younger people stubborn to change - so maybe there is a sweet spot?

Work culture has a place too. Although we like to think that companies invest in their staff, it is more likely that they only invest in things they find valuable. So if you are using an old technology at work, you are going to be left far behind in the real world if you need to move on.

Again, this is down to the individual - the real geeks have a love for tech that is in-built. That's not something that just disappears at 40 (hopefully). Waiting to be taught something is a waste of your time. You need to do it yourself. Again, people of all ages fall into this trap, it is not something specific to being old.

Another big assumption is you cannot learn, which is clearly rubbish. This might not be as fast but I would take the incumbent experience over speed any day. When chaos erupts, I would bet the older developers are keeping calm and working through the problem without additional drama.

Maybe our minds just go. Or we can't take another flipping CRUD form, sell everything and live in the woods. Whatever happens you need to prepare for this now, as I cannot see it getting better. If you are entering the profession, think about how long you can keep doing it for. Here are my thoughts:

• Keep you skills up to date - check your CV every few months, if you have not added to it then you are doing something wrong (probably got too comfortable). 
• Keep up! Get interested in what is going on in the industry. Experiment with new languages, play with new systems, services and APIs. 
• Practice - find some way of experimenting that excites you and do that whenever you can. 
• Create and keep a childlike wonder of all things new and interesting. 
• Attend conferences, meetups etc and listen to stories, return the favour and tell a few of your own. 
• Seek to learn from others and don't be afraid to ask for help. 
• Read - everything you can, whenever you can. 
• Differentiate yourself by being awesome to work with. 
• Learn to communicate and collaborate and build this into your day, this is much harder to master than any code you will ever write.

And finally..... Code, Share, Discuss but Sleep, Laugh and Love in equal measure - there's more to life than just coding even if it doesn't feel like it.

Not that disruptive, maybe

We have seen the rise of start ups in the last few years, challenging existing and much larger companies for a slice of their marketplace. 

The speed at which start ups can move is predominantly down to their size, which their larger competitors can rarely match. Other areas of difference are much more difficult to measure but culture and creativity would be in there too.

Given start ups are a threat, the obvious way to eliminate them would be to buy them. There will probably be a price point where this becomes attractive, especially to any investors in the start up. 

If the motivation of the investor is to make money then this seems to achieve the goal, as long as the price and timing is right.

It could even be a strategy of a start up to be bought out, essentially making a nuisance of itself and forcing a competitors hand. 

Maybe larger companies should see start ups as a form of R&D? Start ups innovate quickly, test the market and show a direction for the larger company to exploit. They even come with customers rather than just a bunch of patents.

So, I'm not sold on the word 'disruptive'. Start ups seem to stimulate rather than disrupt.

Christmas cards for your competition?

The Internet has thrown up some very counter intuitive business models in the last few years. In time, some of these could well be shown to be daft but for the time being they are on the cutting edge of business.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that having no competitors would be an advantage but in a market place as large as the Internet I think you need competition to ensure any sort of customer base.

Imagine a start up with an innovative idea. There is no established sector but there is potential to attract them, probably from other sectors that are related. Or maybe an established company with a niche product that needs to attract new customers to ensure growth or stability.

This is where competition comes in handy. Although you are all after the same customers, you are all marketing and drawing people to the same sector which advertises both you, your sector and potentially your competitors. So, you win some sales, you loose some sales - but you do stand a greater chance of getting them with competitors doing the same.

Different marketing strategies will target different people and conversions are not always obvious or guaranteed. So once the sector is discovered, customers will often look for competitors to secure the best service and/or price.

I would go as far as saying that entering a completely new sector would actually benefit from competition, so why not create some? You could open source your product and actively encourage people to provide a competing service to stimulate the sector.

Competition ultimately fosters innovation. Each company will be looking at their competition, assessing their products and comparing with their own. This basically creates a feedback loop, where we can reflect on what works and what doesn't work and plan what to do next. We get some new ideas from this new perspective, which starts the loop again from our customers perspective.

Our competitors also push us to iterate ideas faster, to forge better relationships and basically be better than them to ensure we get and retain our customers. All good things, if you ask me.

Complacency is too easy to fall into if we have no need to change. Competition forces us to look for value and act. Our competitors should be considered a mirror - what can we learn about ourselves by looking carefully at what they are doing?

After I wrote this thought process down, I found some other people with the similar points:

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/fgdi45eekll/5-reasons-why-competition-is-good-for-your-business-2/
http://www.shaunrosenberg.com/10-reasons-why-competition-is-a-good-thing