Should retirement age in IT be 50?

Sitting in front of a PC all day long may be easy on the young bones, but what will happen once we turn 50 when our bones, nervers, brains and eyes may no longer put up with stress in IT. Besides, how much of a drive one would have when 60 to still learn new technologies?

Should retirement age for IT be 50?

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royal

I'm going to be 90 configuring Exchange 2070.

Essendon

royal wrote:

I'm going to be 90 configuring Exchange 2070.

. That was funny.

dtlokee

royal wrote:

I'm going to be 90 configuring Exchange 2070.

And telling all your 20 something year old co-workers about how it was back in your day of Exchange 2007

binarysoul

royal wrote:

I'm going to be 90 configuring Exchange 2070.

Oh, now we know your age. So you're 28 and born in 1980

HeroPsycho

royal wrote:

I'm going to be 90 configuring Exchange 2070.

Telling squatters to get off your domains!

royal

binarysoul wrote:

royal wrote:

I'm going to be 90 configuring Exchange 2070.

Oh, now we know your age. So you're 28 and born in 1980

Correct. But I'll be 28 next weekend. So 27 still.

JDMurray

Retire from IT at 50?

What the Hell am I gonna do in five years? Become a manager?

And do you know how ridiculously expensive it is to own your own business in California?

Maybe they need over-50, English-speaking IT guys in China. I bet they'd pay pretty well over there too.

binarysoul

royal wrote:

binarysoul wrote:

royal wrote:

I'm going to be 90 configuring Exchange 2070.

Oh, now we know your age. So you're 28 and born in 1980

Correct. But I'll be 28 next weekend. So 27 still.

*************Happy Birthday on behalf of all

*************

binarysoul

JDMurray wrote:

Retire from IT at 50? What the Hell am I gonna do in five years? Become a manager?

And do you know how ridiculously expensive it is to own your own business in California?

Maybe they need over-50, English-speaking IT guys in China. I bet they'd pay pretty well over there too.

China??? I don't think I can afford to live on $5/day at 50 when I will have too many expenses

Not to mention some of us may want to travel around the globe.

But honestly, the other day I was kind of tired and thought what if this is how I feel after 50? I won't be able to work or at least I will be able to work with pain.

JDMurray

binarysoul wrote:

China??? I don't think I can afford to live on $5/day at 50 when I will have too many expenses

I think China realized decades ago that good, foreign talent costs a little more than $5/day.

dynamik

binarysoul wrote:

China??? I don't think I can afford to live on $5/day at 50 when I will have too many expenses

I think he meant transitioning into a consulting position, not a sweatshop

As far as the question goes, I think there's still plenty of lower-stress options once you start getting older. You can do training, management, design, research, etc. At that point, you probably won't be the one putting in a long weekend because a server went down.

mrhaun03

I had a guy in class with me who was over 60...we were both goin for our associates in IT. I dont think that should be the retirement age but im lookin forward to retiring around that age.

bertieb

50!?

I'll just be getting started at 50

NinjaBoy

dtlokee wrote:

royal wrote:

I'm going to be 90 configuring Exchange 2070.

And telling all your 20 something year old co-workers about how it was back in your day of Exchange 2007

Heck I'm doing that now with the new gen of IT pro's... "In the days of NT4..."

-Ken

jryantech

I'm 20 and I agree! All IT guys should retire at 50.

I need some high paying job openings when I get out of college

mikej412

jryantech wrote:

I need some high paying job openings

You can have my network when you pry it from my cold dead hands -- except I'm a contractor, so it really isn't mine.

GT-Rob

Pfft 50? I plan to retire at 45. Working is for suckers!

Oh who am I kidding I will probably work into my grave...

RussS

Oh how I bloody wish I could retire at 50 ..... than would mean only 2 more days of work left

However, the facts of life are that we live a lot longer these days and the retirement age has been raised accordingly. The way it is going now I will be 70 before they let me retire instead of the current 65

royal

RussS wrote:

Oh how I bloody wish I could retire at 50 ..... than would mean only 2 more days of work left

Incoming who's the oldest person on this forum thread.

HeroPsycho

Now listen here you whippersnapper!

Plantwiz

binarysoul wrote:

Sitting in front of a PC all day long may be easy on the young bones, but what will happen once we turn 50 when our bones, nervers, brains and eyes may no longer put up with stress in IT. Besides, how much of a drive one would have when 60 to still learn new technologies?

Should retirement age for IT be 50?

Retirement is a concept that came about to make people either feel useless or a polite way to remove the deadweight from a company.

Retirement is a relatively new concept and people used to work until health prohibitied it. One is driven when they are interested in something. So, the drive of a 60 year old in IT should be similar or better then a 20 year old. Learning keeps the spirit young and once we stop learning then there is little point to continue.

So, there is no reason for a set retirement age. There is valuable information that those 'old' 50 somethings possess and have experienced. And I'm curious why you stated that IT is 'stressful'? There are ups and downs, but that is so in just about any industry, and I doubt moreso in IT.

Or I suppose you could just shoot us old people

astorrs

Plantwiz wrote:

There is valuable information that those 'old' 50 somethings possess and have experienced.

+1, I've worked with just about every age/skill set in IT, and I have the most respect for those who have been in the field for 30+ years. I've learned more, faster, from those people and the wisdom they have developed over the decades they've been in IT than anyone else. None of those people shied away from stressful positions, they embraced them - usually because their experience had taught them how to deal with stress. While they weren't always the most up-to-date on the latest technology/trends (that's what they had us young "whippersnappers" for), they brought the experience, lessons learned, and patience to make sure "it gets done right".

Hell no to mandatory retirement, I wouldn't be where I am today without their mentorship.

hypnotoad

Mathematicians do their best work in their early-middle 20's and then fade quickly. I believe this has at least some truth in computer people.

Plantwiz

hypnotoad wrote:

Mathematicians do their best work in their early-middle 20's and then fade quickly. I believe this has at least some truth in computer people.

Based on what? And in what sense? 'Mathematics' can be a broad area, are you talking about 'think tank' type work or what?

IT is a bit more dynamic. Programming, maybe could be compared to mathematics, but IT is a very broad category and with new technologies, end-users, management, etc.... it's hard to understand where you are drawing your conclusion without some more data.

JDMurray

hypnotoad wrote:

Mathematicians do their best work in their early-middle 20's and then fade quickly. I believe this has at least some truth in computer people.

I think this is due the waning ability of older people to hold large amounts of information in their brain and manipulate it quickly as they did when they were younger. There is also a certain amount (or type?) of creativity that is lost when the brain's ability to manipulate information slows down. (Apparently, caffeine is not the antidote.

)

I have wondered when I will experience a burn-out in my ability to design and write code. Since my late 20's, I have favored specialty languages and design methodologies that emphasize producing working applications quickly over languages that are more generalized and (hence) more difficult to use. Now, twenty years later, I still love programming and logic, but I no longer wish it to be the focus of my daily thought processes.

Maybe my brain is getting a bit tired of coding and wants to do something else that challenges it in different ways. One day I'll have it over for dinner and ask.

Ahriakin

Everyone's ability is a combination of raw talent and knowledge. Yup the old noggin' will slow as you get older and reduce the raw talent element but you should have picked up and filtered more experience into higher quality knowledge to counterbalance. At least to a point....and then when things start getting too slow to actually be efficient (as JD said) you can become a manager

It's a good question though. I look at the amount of effort and time I put into my career currently and while it all seems worth it now I know there will come a point where the amount of effort put into it won't net the same satisfaction. I think my personal connection to IT will retire long before I as a person do.

RussS

The concept that the waning ability for an older person to learn or hold information is an invalid assumption. Like many preconcieved ideas it is based on outdated models and conceptual thinking. It is entirely possible that an older mind does process things a bit slower, but studies have shown that the reason for that is not necessarily an inability to process, but because the brain cross-references against known thoughts and concepts - think of it as when you search in Windows .... a search on a 1 Tb drive will take longer than a search on a 20Gb one.

The other thing to remeber is that today people live a lot longer and an average 60 years old is a lot more active both mentally and physically than a 60 year old of a generation or three ago.

ladiesman217

JDMurray wrote:

binarysoul wrote:

China??? I don't think I can afford to live on $5/day at 50 when I will have too many expenses

I think China realized decades ago that good, foreign talent costs a little more than $5/day.

Same as here! level 1 desktop support earns as low as 3dollars per/day. I really need to find my way out here!

janmike

binarysoul asks

Should retirement age for IT be 50?

WHAT!? I didn't start in IT until I was 57. You mean I have worked past my prime!........and
didn't even know it.

I am 62 now. So, that means that I am unable to do this anymore. I am totally shocked at my own naivete. (lol)

Seriously, it's not always easy. But, you can always have fun with it........even if you're just mumbling to yourself like old farts do.

Good luck to you kids!

RusS states

The concept that the waning ability for an older person to learn or hold information is an invalid assumption. Like many preconcieved ideas it is based on outdated models and conceptual thinking.

RusS, RusS, RusS! Just take a deep breath and consider your audience here......... When I was 27, I had no idea what those big words mean.

dynamik

I knew someone here was in their 60s, but I couldn't remember who. Thanks for chiming in.

Out of curiosity, what's your day like? Are you in a management position or are you down in the trenches?