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Older tech workers are tapping out, taking early retirement
(www.seattletimes.com)
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this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2026
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That’s me. Working local jobs with rather unambitious colleagues. I’ve worked for construction, property management, a digital marketplace, and professional services for retirees. All small local organizations. Only one of which with an internal dev team. None of which had any customer facing products in the analytical space.
My entire career has existed under the rock of entrepreneurial blindness toward disciplined engineering. Someone starts a business, it starts doing okay, and eventually they realize they have “too much data” and “don’t know what to do with it.” Then I come into the picture, saying all these big funny works like Governance, Catalog, … they hire me. I get their BI section working good enough that I get bored of being there. They eventually refuse to give me meaningful raises and I leave shortly after that.
Wish I had more money. I’ve gone from 60k -> 80k -> 85k -> 110k after each job transition. I’m still paycheck to paycheck with no savings and a car that only half runs.
Too real but I spent the first 15 making low wages and the last 10 making about the same as you.
Got kicked out the door with others due to cost (first time in 25 years) and get interviews but it has been a difficult time finding another place.
I'm working on my own thing with a few people that also have some runway and I really hope it goes well because the job market sucks and I'm sick of being on this wheel. It won't be because we aren't trying. That's for sure. We don't even care about doing well. We just looked at, what can we get away with and cover expenses without pissing off our wives too much. That's it. That's the whole goal. Not a single turtleneck among us. I don't even care if one of them goes crazy, screws me and takes the lion's share so long as I don't have to go back on the wheel.
Even if this half worked and I took a grocery store or security guard gig pt to make up the difference, that would still be preferable.
But I have big fear about finding myself in a call center again and that was a lifetime ago. I'd rather starve to death.
$110k/year and still paycheck to paycheck with an unreliable car?
BI and Data Governance are generally pretty good career paths right now in the IT space.
Do you live in a HCOL area? Have you explored the differential about moving to a MCOL or LCOL area and how much impact that would have on your potential salary?