As I roll up on 40, I think it's a bit late to ask this question.

Every day is a new day, though. Just because I did it yesterday doesn't mean I have to continue with the same tomorrow!

... unless I want to keep my house ...

It would be nice to have that kind of job security.

The key is to write a program that steals fractions of pennies from the company over time so you can retire early. If a disgruntled employee burns the building down, covering your tracks in the process, so much the better.

I wonder if the person in the article was aware they were nearly quoting the protagonist of Office Space?

Hopefully as you get older you naturally become less hands on and more "bigger picture" tech lead or architect.

nope.

I used to say: "40! ha, i'm going to buy motorcycles and fast cars and eat badly and drink too much and have dangerous hobbies and hopefully die young before i get old like you 40 year old geezers."

then I had kids and that kinda doesn't work now. so now, sadly yes. I don't want to be doing this at 50 or 60 or 70 or ...

now go give your dad a hug

Look at it this way, you can always be a manager.