Retired techies, are you still engaged in tech?

[PatrickW]

Been a tech guy all my life. Was my passion in life, early on.
But I'm sick of all the non-tech stuff that goes with it (I have not yet retired).
I may keep some limited interest in Tech after I retire, but I don't think I'll be a participant.

[twaddle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gkk2001 I think many must be younger than me and still have the need to create. We all eventually lose that need.

I'm not looking forward to that. Just curious -- at what age do you think that happens?

I took up guitar playing, and that was one of the reasons. I figured I could still keep myself entertained even if I were to lose sight, mobility, etc.

[jollystomper]

Microsoft is having their annual Ignite conference next week, all virtual, all free. I looked at the agenda and their were some interesting sessions for me, so I have signed up for it. Can't let go of that tech desire just yet...

[Retch The Grate]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gkk2001 I thought any interest or fun in doing what I did for a living would be a function of age, cognitive retention, and eyesight (looking at a bright white screen for hours). It has been for me and thus I do not want to do any software coding now. But I read there are many views on this site. I think many must be younger than me and still have the need to create. We all eventually loose that need.

Fortunately I know a bunch of rather old people for whom this is not true.

[Retch The Grate]

Not retiring soon (and the recent house purchase pushed us back from being FI too), I. keep imagining that when I do, I'll totally work on some indie game projects of my own. However, the times I've been unemployed long enough to do that show that I don't actually do that with the time when I have it :P I'm wondering if RE rather than just being unemployed and having to job hunt, will encourage more effort.

[albundyz]

I spent my last 20 career years as a software developer. I hated it, but the $ was good and my job was mostly safe. sometimes, you gotta pay the family bills. I always found myself competing with people who went home and programmed in C++ and thought it was a fun hobby... I went home, played guitar, played softball, drank beer, and enjoyed my kids. I've been retired for 13 years. I still play guitar, play senior softball, and drink beer..... and enjoy my grandkids. never gave programming one second of consideration.

[digger1959]

I worked as a programmer for almost 32 years with almost 30 of those in the defense contracting field--not very rewarding. So I quit that job and did nothing for 3 years when I was approached to do some contracting for a B2B company and I have been doing that for 6 years. It is a pretty good gig because I set my own hours and have no deadlines. I am only responsible for myself so no cats to herd. And since I am self employed, I can write off my cost of pre-Medicare health insurance for my self and my husband. I will likely retire completely when I am eligible for Medicare but right now, it is a nice pad working no more than one-third time each month. When I quit originally I was thinking that I was done with that type of work, but I have to admit and I still like keeping my hand in it because I do enjoy the challenge.

[habelsgtb]

I worked in IT for 25 years; mostly programming but also later QA and IT Security. No interest anymore but I’m glad I have the background to understand things. More focused on travel and renewing my home brewing hobby.

[hikerpoet]

I have been programming since '81, first one being a deck of cards written in FORTRAN for a mainframe. Last project was Single Page App in ReactJS and cloud. It has been a long journey. Software Engineer at various companies for over 30 years, never went to management, since loved coding more.

Retired 2 months back at 57, My skills are still very current and in demand, but the burnout has been real, and i have no desire to do it at-least for a long long time, if it naturally feel exciting again.

Planning to just chill, get a part-time fun job where i am using my body for a change.

saving my brainpower to read various books, write, also do some hiking, biking and travel.

[RASAP]

I was a software engineer for most of my career and am a real geek by most definitions. I started out in assembly language helping write code to control the Alaskan pipeline. Wrote code for nuclear power plant security systems. Moved on to real-time programming of cold rolling aluminum mills. After that, I started writing PLC code to control manufacturing processes for Kellogg and then got into controlling biotech manufacturing processes. That is when I lost passion as it became more about design documentation (FDA requirements) than the coding. When I retired I was glad to get away from it all. I still get the yearning now and then but don't act on it. My grandson showed some interest in learning how to code so I have been teaching him the basics of C++. That scratches my itch a little. Other than that, it's a thing of the past for me.

[target2019]

I was a tech writer and illustrator, and later an analyst. Worked for defense contractors, paper industry, healthcare, payment card and others. I went back and forth between software and hardware docs, and also had a long stretch installing systems and admin stuff.

I usually have a tech project going on, might be recovering an old system for someone, or investigating new hardware, like this: https://www.early-retirement.org/for...in-109151.html