I consider myself a high level software developer. I enjoy reading a lot, and it's helped me over the course of my career. I think I am doing well.Right now, I spend a lot of time learning new things. I don't suck when it comes to writing code right now, but I'm about to start a family, and I regularly see many seniors with 14-15 years of experience whobecause they cut back on learning new thingsnow suck at programming. They were inspiring figures at some point of time, but they are not anymore.You might argue that basics never change, but it does appear to make a difference when you are coding on Delphi for 10 years and suddenly everyone is using the .NET framework. It's true that an experienced developer will take less time when learning a new framework, but it still does demand time and effort.How does a software developer manage the demands of the job while still being able to concentrate on things that necessarily take you out of the job, like starting a family?
How do you cope with the dynamic nature of high-level software development?
self improvement;career development
Something you said stood out: I regularly see many seniors with an experience of 14-15 years... they now suck at programming.  That's a pretty broad brush stroke you are using to paint people with experience.  I'd like to point out a couple things to consider:Younger/less experienced practitioners love to point out how their seniors fail to do X or Y, when they fail to understand that experience has shown that those were bad ideas.  Yet each new generation of practitioners seems to want to repeat those mistakes.  That phenomenon is common to all professions, not just programming.Not all people who have been working a number of years are experienced, mature, or good.  It takes effort to become better.  A lot of effort put in when you are younger builds a good body of experience from which you can draw on later.Perhaps the people you are referring to were never good.  It's just as possible that they are looking at you thinking, why do you insist on doing things the hard way?It is true, however, that as you start a family you have much less time to keep up with new toys.  You actually have less time as your kids get older than you do when they are younger.  Toys don't make you a better programmer.  Neither do tools.  What makes you good is the ability to break down problems and build a working solution.  What makes you great is the ability to teach others to be good.  That's where experience starts to shine.