I would like to call myself a software developer, software engineer or a programmer. Since I discovered the Financial Independence and Retire Early (FIRE) movement 7 years ago, I have been wondering why there are so many programmers in this community. As time and the profession crawl into me, I guess I started to see why. In this article, I will list my reasoning one reason at a time, and will try to explain.
If you disagree with any item on the list, or you would like to add more items to it, please let me know in the comments.
FIRE and Software People
Just before spitting out my list out, I wanted to point out that FIRE is an active movement among programmers already. The guys that come to mind in an instance are Joe Udo from Retire by 40, Mr. Money Mustache, Giorgio from Retire in Progress are some of them.
Most of the software people, if not all, are aware of FIRE movement, and at least half of them are interested. But what’s funny is that, some of the people that have achieved financial independence are also get interested into software developing 🙂
It’s time to put up a list, then.
1. It’s Only Logical
As a software engineer, I have an unhealthy love for analytics, mathematics, and logic. This is what makes me a high-performer in my job, and this is what makes me interested any logical structure. FIRE is no different.
FIRE is all about mathematics and logic. And when I try to analyze it, I saw that it is definitely reachable. That’s why when I first learned about it, and thought about FIRE, everything just clicked. It is possible to retire by 40 (42 maximum), and it will be great!
2. The Software Job is Retiree-Friendly
If one is passionate on programming measures, it is quite easy to program outside of a job position. All you need is a moderate-quality computer to program. Also, it does not depend on business hours, so it is quite OK to program 5 hours a week. Although, I don’t recommend it since focusing would be quite impossible.
Also, it is still possible to make a living on part-time jobs, or on-and-off gigs in a freelance ecosystem. It is quite possible to work from your garage, or an empty kitchen table.
It is also possible to shoot for the stars after you retire, trying to engineer a real product ready for the market. Lots of mid-life crises of software developers turned out million-dollar businesses.
3. Ageism in Software Development?
It is not a great industry to work as a senior. This is for multiple reasons.
First things first, software development industry is ever-changing, increasingly in nowadays. As you are getting older, it becomes harder to keep up and perform in the job. For example, I don’t see lots of great elder programmers around me, especially when compared to other professions. While people are getting older and having kids and such, they seem to have harder time to keep up and drop one-by-one like flies.
In addition, new graduates are making times harder for their predecessors, working more hours and producing more code for less money. Competition is harsh out there, and it is not getting any better.
I’m not sure if I should call the hiring decisions in the industry as “Ageism”, but it is quite certain that it is harder to be a 60-year-old developer.
4. Company Politics
If you happen to work in a crowded mega giant of a firm, politics among the company will play a large part of your daily work.
In some days, you will work on some dumb sh*t that no one cares about, just because your manager has some performance metric that is just way too dumbass. You need to keep up with quarterly or yearly goals, and also your managers’.
It is entirely possible to have an e-mail that is in all caps, mentioning some employees spend too much time on the bathroom with your boss is in CC. I work freelance right now, but it is quite understandable that people wants to quit early from their jobs just because they want to cut this sh*t out of their lives.
5. The Sheer Stress in Software Development
The sector involves constant evolution, and you must keep up. You need to work extra hours in the weekend or evening to learn that new framework, or you may become obsolete in a couple of years. Sure, there are some rocks that are never rolling, but that is not even the 1% of the sector (Like programming COBOL in a basement of a bank HQ) and don’t keep your hopes up.
Also as you age-up and skill-up, it is pretty likely that your role will be more management-oriented, which will ramp-up the stress levels for every new employee you mentor/manage. I mostly see myself valuable as an IC (Individual Contributor), not managing people but enlarging my technical knowledge and work as a lone wolf. However, it is quite possible for me to not be able to find an IC position since companies do not believe in such value.
6. I Have the Disposable Income
Junior software engineers’ median salary is quite impressive with respect to other jobs. And this gap nothing but improves with seniority. This is mainly because at the information age, good software creates large value, so the software engineers as value-creators, grab the lions share from the value they create.
I also am quite an earner with respect to the median salary around me. Having a substantial income, it is quite possible to have a higher savings rate, which will result faster financial independence. Also a modest lifestyle definitely helps.
So, these are why
As you see, I have lots of reasons to focus on FIREing as a software guy, and I’m focusing on it. Go on my homepage to read more.
