Someone loaned me a book about software development. It's written by a guy who got a college degree in something totally unrelated to IT, but graduated in the beginning of the dotcom boom. He fell into a s/w development job.

The real interesting part of the book is the last chapter, where he discusses the state of the industry. One sentence in particular sticks in my mind pops to the forefront every couple weeks. He says something to the effect of "If you are reading this book while deciding on an IT career, and after finishing you are still planning on an entrance strategy into the field, you must also plan your exit strategy". He goes on to discuss how you will almost certainly reach a burnout point.

Some of his examples really hit home. He mentions the guy with 20 yrs experience who says how he's not worried about his job cause he has so much industry experience they can't get rid of him. The author mentions how there's someone getting ready to graduate from the local university who's been studying the lastest tools for the last 4-5 yrs. And is willing to work for 40% of what the experienced guy is getting paid.

There is no escaping having to constantly study in our chosen field these days.

>Allow me a correction to what you said "You no longer can learn Cobol, get a job and stay employed that way thruout your career." I'd rephrase that to "You no longer can get a job and stay employed that way thruout your career." ;-)
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>But in the I.T. world the particularity is that we always have to learn the new cool thing. And when we begin to be comfortable with that new thing there's another one waiting to be discovered. Perhaps that could also explain why many old persons (40+) <vbg> change their career path.
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>And like things were'nt hard enough we have to compete with guys getting salaries of around $20 per day.
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>Still even with all those negatives sides I still like what I'm doing. Can't tell you how long I'll keep enjoying it though ;-)
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>>Don't know if sad is really the word. I read an article almost 10 yrs ago that mentioned how many programmers burned out at age 40 and moved on from the IT industry.
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>>Things in the industry are changing at a rapid pace. You no longer can learn Cobol, get a job and stay employed that way thruout your career.
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>>>>There were only 5 or 6 people in the VFP sessions last year. Not enough to justify a VFP track.
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>>>>>Oh and by the way you too Jean-Rene are forcing us to use .Net
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>>>>>There's no VFP sessions at DevTeach this year ;-)
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>>>Hi Craig,
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>>>I understand completely Jean-René's business decision.
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>>>I was just teasing him. But in the end the VFP situation is just sad. No need to say more.