Damn, I'll already reach the 40's bar in a few years :(

http://jeff-vogel.blogspot.be/2015/06/age-pleasing-apple-and-trying-to-climb.html

Almost thought this was john vogel from the Mortal Kombat devs for a second.

Nice article. I'm currently 25, but I feel like I have to think about growing older in IT industry - if there's something that really upsets me, it's that eventually, I'll have a hard time finding work as a lowly coder, and so I can either push myself into things I hate like team management, completely change occupation, or eventually become obsolete. I probably wouldn't worry about it weren't there people who depend on my income, buut... Those people exist. *sigh* I'll just go over there and continue coding.

the same can be said for any occupation that take a hell lot of working hours and physical/mental strain. but he did highlight a good point about backward compatibility of platforms/OS's and perhaps future-proofing your code.

for all the things supposedly evil with MS, they actually listen to their consumers and devs unlike apple. as for the app/program part of things, and call me an ignorant script kiddie who got all his knowledge from watching a hollywood movie, but i'm of the opinion that programs ought to be more self-contained rather than made for a specific OS or certain set of hardware.

Damn, I would back a Kickstarter to send this guy to the top doctor's, top dieticians, and top physical trainers to continue to churn out Spiderweb love.

Aging does indeed suck.


Edit: Yikes, programming for Apple sounds like a huge pain in the ass.

Yeah, you sound like an ignorant script kiddie. As a programmer you either have to interface with the OS in order to access devices (display something, play sounds, ...) or you have to rely on someone else's library which will do that. Either way, if the OS stops supporting these methods of interaction, or force you to use some new way to get permission to use them, your program will fail. There's not much you can do to prevent that.


On the subject itself, well, that's the first time I read it from a small indie dev's POV. Most articles I previously read were about how it's hard to get jobs in the industry. When you're independent there are other problems.

Still, it made me happy that I still don't have any major health issues, and that I'm still employed (not in the game industry, but in the IT industry).

http://venturebeat.com/2015/04/27/apple-doesnt-care-why-one-longtime-indie-role-playing-game-maker-has-left-ios/

looks like he also dissed android/linux, but he actually went back and made an iPad port anyway.

Despite him going a bit back on his word of this particular interview, I still think it's a fairly accurate view. Apple simply doesn't give a shit about its consumers/devs - one particular reason I gave them the big middle finger a number of years back to return to Windows land - especially where games are concerned. If anything Apple has shown only contempt or a great deal of indifference to gaming as a whole, even if they make a ridiculous amount of money because of them these days. If they end up breaking things with an OS update it's not their problem but everyone else's.

I think he raises interesting points, but I also think it's to be taken with a pinch of salt or two.

There are few people in their fifties in the video games industry? Isn't it because that industry is still young? Take Jon Van Caneghem.. At least until 2013, he was still working around videogames (admittedly, not as a designer anymore), and he's only 53 years old.

Heck, John Carmack is 44.

That was a fascinating and brutally honest blog post.

That's worth a read, one of the better pieces by Mr. Vogel in my opinion.

If I remember correctly one of the writers or designers who worked on Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines wrote a similar article last year.

Edit: Found it: A similar article by David Mullich, who worked on games such as Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines, Heroes of Might & Magic III, DuckTales, and I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream

http://gamasutra.com/blogs/DavidMullich/20140822/223945/No_Consoles_For_Old_Men_Ageism_In_The_Game_Industry.php

It isn't just the developers who are getting older, the customers are too. Assuming that you were 18 when DOOM was released, you would be 40! People born in 1993 are now 22...

The market is going to be a bit shaken up, as old gamers become commonplace.

guess this is relevent too?
http://spectrum.ieee.org/static/the-stem-crisis-is-a-myth-an-ongoing-discussion

call me a racist bigot of a communist, but it's about time all tech workers (including those in the gaming industry) unionised.i mean when school-dropout plumbers can have more rights and benefits than most tech workers, something's obscenely wrong.

OR you can use Unity. But Unity sucks ass.

Sadly this is so true. My sister once told me, "I chosen to be a lawyer because is one of the few jobs that changes very slowly and when you are old, you are not so outdated"