An old programmer loses his job
There is a lot of age-ism in the industry.<p>But there are also a lot of people who thought that if they learned one environment they&#x27;d have a job forever, like their dad running the panel stamper at GM or working in a coal mine.<p>I know of one particular guy who learned dBase III and is still using it, and stubbornly refuses to move off it despite his employer deep-sixing the system in favour of a new outsourced one.  The old one &quot;still works&quot; despite blowing out the theoretical size limit of dBase III and having to live every day on a knife edge of not knowing whether the environment will start again today, but he is uninterested in learning anything new.<p>I&#x27;m not 65 but I am over 50.  I don&#x27;t find it hard to keep up with new tech, in fact that experience makes it easier as all the &quot;new tech&quot; is usually just old stuff reinvented by people who don&#x27;t know history.  Which is fine, it&#x27;s boring to read about the crufty beardies and their epic hacks.  Perhaps it&#x27;s better to keep it an open secret so I can keep programming longer.