<p>Ive heard that once you reach forty your hiring prospects dwindle down to nothing and you rnd up working for minimum wage by fifty. Is this true? I really like the idea of doing computer science and eventually getting a masters and MBA (hopefully from UCLA....MIT if I'm unbelievably lucky, lol) and getting into management. Is there more job security there?</p>
<p>You think companies fire you once you reach 40? Usually by that age you are in management. It may be harder to get an entry level position at 40 but if you 40 why would you want that.</p>
<p>Yeah, that makes sense. And im releaved! I got scared about a few articles online so for a while I was like oh…better do finance. Thank you for cleating that up!</p>
<p>It is you, the individual, that counts. Companies are looking for good workers. If you work hard and always try your best, there is nothing to worry about. If you try to take shortcuts, game the system, just doing the minimum and not improving yourself, then you will not be in good shape in whatever field you are in.</p>
<p>I hope not. I finished my first semester without having a major…and computer science is what I am going to do next semester.</p>
<p>[The</a> complete journey of an Int’l student…](<a href=“http://www.f1studentjourney.blogspot.com%5DThe”>http://www.f1studentjourney.blogspot.com)</p>
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<p>Tell me, do managers manage two or three people? That’s about how many people you’d manage for it to be typical to be in management by age 40.</p>
<p>I don’t understand what you are asking. The number of people you manage varies. For example for one company I interviewed with for an IT position The company had about 700 IT workers. I was introduced to 5 different managers. Most of them managed 15 or more people. One guy managed 8 and another guy managed 2.</p>
<p>The guy who managed two was according to others higher up in management chain.</p>
<p>The point is there are only so many management positions. If there are roughly half as many people over 40 as under 40 still working (generously low), not even close to a majority of over 40s are in a management position given that one person can manage 10 people.</p>
<p>Computer science is a constantly shifting business. It is true that people who only learn what’s necessary for their job will flame out and be virtually unemployable by the time they’re 40. Those that last a long time constantly keep up to date on new developments, new languages or architecture, etc.</p>
<p>^This is very true. CS is a fast moving field with lot’s of new technologies every couple of years. If you don’t spend the time learning new frameworks / languages / design patterns, you will fall behind. That being said, I have to warn you that the Silicon Valley tech scene is notorious for age discrimination. Unless you have a very specific and specialized skill set, or unless you are in a management / tech lead position, tech companies are almost always going to prefer hiring a young, fresh-out-of-college grad an pay him/her 80k per year and have him/her work 70 hour weeks over hiring a 40-50 year old engineer and pay him/her 150-300k per year who only has the energy/time to work 50 hours weeks. That being said, it doesn’t mean things are bad for once you reach 40. It just means that after age 35, you should start angling to move into management / project lead positions (and hopefully, you will be a senior engineer by then). If management is not for you (and for many engineers this is true), then you will want to accumulate deep and specialized experience in a specific narrow field.</p>
<p>This is just generalized from talking to an engineer I know who is about to retire from Google - he tried to break into management but did not like managing people. He remained employed because he is considered an expert in his field (security protocols). You mileage may (and probably WILL) vary. (BTW, Google has an undeservedly laid-back reputation and actually has a lot of internal politics, at least according to him).</p>
<p>Also, none of this really applies to areas outside of Silicon Valley. For example, some other people on this forum have mentioned how defense contractors are much more stable in terms of employment, which I don’t doubt.</p>