WeAreDevelopers LIVE • Feb 1, 2022

Get old, go slow, write code!

Tobias Modig

Why do developers abandon the codebase by age 28? Stop treating your career like a sprint, reject premature promotions, and discover the power of slow, quality-first engineering.

Pause

Mute

Enter Fullscreen

#1 about 9 min

Challenges of aging in the software development industry

The constant evolution of programming technologies creates intimidating hurdles for older developers struggling to maintain professional relevance.

#2 about 5 min

Comparing software developer demographics with other traditional professions

Statistical data reveals that software engineering averages an unusually young workforce when compared to teaching and medicine.

#3 about 7 min

Developer career longevity and common reasons for quitting

High attrition rates in the technology sector often stem from eventual burnout, loss of programming passion, or involuntary shifts into management.

#4 about 6 min

Navigating career progression without falling into management traps

The Peter Principle illustrates how highly competent software engineers are often promoted into administrative roles where they initially struggle.

#5 about 3 min

Redefining software development speed to embrace a sustainable pace

Viewing software engineering as a continuous marathon instead of short developmental bursts prevents widespread team burnout.

#6 about 5 min

Impact of arbitrary deadlines and lean methodologies on code

Arbitrary timelines and intense pressure for initial market delivery consistently degrade the long-term maintainability of enterprise code.

#7 about 8 min

Prioritizing internal code quality to prevent complete systemic rewrites

Investing engineering effort early to construct well-designed software avoids the expensive trap of compounded technical debt.

#8 about 5 min

Applying targeted practices to reduce waste and technical debt

Structuring dedicated time for collaborative code katas, extensive planning, and continuous refactoring fundamentally improves project health.

#9 about 8 min

Overcoming the fear of missing out on new frameworks

Measuring bug reduction helps justify slower development cycles to management while mitigating developer stress over constant tool updates.

Matching moments

35 sec

Balancing development speed with long-term software sustainability

Sergej Reznik

Sergej Reznik · Europe 2026 Virtual

4:10 min

Preventing developer burnout by avoiding toxic productivity trends

Katja Träumner

1:33 min

The lifecycle and progression of a developer career

Chris Heilmann · LIVE

2:30 min

Overcoming the human challenges of software maintenance

Robby Russell · Coffee With Developers

2:52 min

Escaping the competence trap in software engineering

Christoph Marckx

Christoph Marckx · Europe 2026 Virtual

2:44 min

Current state of software development lifecycles

Martin Reynolds

Martin Reynolds · World Congress 2025

More from WeAreDevelopers LIVE

Fake or News - AI Music Detectors, Translating Ancient Languages & Tiny Heads in Teslas - Eddie Jaoude thumbnail

Fake or News - AI Music Detectors, Translating Ancient Languages & Tiny Heads in Teslas - Eddie Jaoude

Chris Heilmann, Daniel Cranney

Fake or News: AI Agents Hire Each Other, Spider-Man Ads in Cars & RAM Thieves - Marc Plogas thumbnail

Fake or News: AI Agents Hire Each Other, Spider-Man Ads in Cars & RAM Thieves - Marc Plogas

Chris Heilmann, Daniel Cranney, Marc Plogas

WeAreDevelopers - Of Agents and Robots thumbnail

WeAreDevelopers - Of Agents and Robots

Chris Heilmann, Daniel Cranney, Marc Plogas

WeAreDevelopers LIVE - How DevRel Makes Tech More Human thumbnail

WeAreDevelopers LIVE - How DevRel Makes Tech More Human

Chris Heilmann, Daniel Cranney

Fake or News: Smart Glasses in Court, Medical Advice Watches & Mushroom Electonics - Jason Torres thumbnail

Fake or News: Smart Glasses in Court, Medical Advice Watches & Mushroom Electonics - Jason Torres

Chris Heilmann, Daniel Cranney

Aliens in Quarantine, Python Deprecates Loops, and AI Buys Old Books - Zbyszek Tenerowicz thumbnail

about 1 month ago

Aliens in Quarantine, Python Deprecates Loops, and AI Buys Old Books - Zbyszek Tenerowicz

Chris Heilmann, Daniel Cranney

Upcoming sessions on this topic

World Congress 2026 North America

September 24, 2026 · 16:10–16:40

Outdoor Stage

When Humans Stop Writing Code: Rethinking Languages, Compilers, and Responsibility

Simon Auer

Organizer of flutter vienna meetup and CEO of marqably

Simon Auer

World Congress 2026 North America

September 24, 2026 · 16:10–16:40

Stage 2

The Death of the Code Review

Laurie Voss

Head of Developer Relations

Laurie Voss

World Congress 2026 North America

September 24, 2026 · 15:30–16:00

Stage 3

The New Bottleneck in Software Development

Aditya Jayaprakash

Co-Founder & CEO at Blacksmith

Aditya Jayaprakash

World Congress 2026 North America

September 25, 2026 · 14:50–15:20

Tech Leaders Stage

Keeping Code Quality at AI Speed

Daksh Gupta, Arthur Hicken, Brian Mann

Daksh Gupta

Arthur Hicken

Brian Mann

World Congress 2026 North America

September 25, 2026 · 14:10–14:40

Stage 1

The Broken Rung: How AI is Rebuilding Software Development from the Ground Up

Tomislav Tipurić

Chief Technology Officer, Nephos

Tomislav Tipurić

World Congress 2026 North America

September 24, 2026 · 10:20–10:50

Tech Leaders Stage

The New Rules of Software Delivery

AJ Aitken, Moritz Plassnig

AJ Aitken

Moritz Plassnig

Related videos

Move fast with Software Architecture thumbnail

World Congress 2021 • about 5 years ago

Move fast with Software Architecture

Simon Lasselsberger

Navigating the Future of Junior Developers in Tech thumbnail

LIVE • over 1 year ago

Navigating the Future of Junior Developers in Tech

Chris Heilmann

Keep your code refactorable thumbnail

World Congress 2022 • about 4 years ago

Keep your code refactorable

Gerrit Stapper

Software Development is (not) getting easier thumbnail

Europe 2026 Virtual • 2 months ago

Software Development is (not) getting easier

Rene Kokott

Why Your Best Mediors Never Become Seniors (And How to Fix It) thumbnail

Europe 2026 Virtual • 2 months ago

Why Your Best Mediors Never Become Seniors (And How to Fix It)

Christoph Marckx

Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development - Observations From a 21-Year Journey thumbnail

Europe 2026 Virtual • 2 months ago

Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development - Observations From a 21-Year Journey

Alex Thurow

Related articles

BB

Benedikt Bischof

Get Old, go Slow, Write Code!

Welcome to the newest series of the WeAreDevelopers Magazine – Dev Talk Recap. This article recaps an interesting talk by Tobias Modig who gave advice about getting old(er) as a developer and slowi...

over 4 years ago

Get Old, go Slow, Write Code!

DC

Daniel Cranney

The Importance of "Not Done"

“Move fast and break things”.In the years since these words were first uttered by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, the motto has become somewhat of a mantra among tech entrepreneurs, product build...

over 1 year ago

The Importance of "Not Done"

DC

Daniel Cranney

Ignore the Hype: How to Avoid Being Deceived by Technological Trends

Developers often find themselves tempted by the allure of the "next big thing." A shiny new framework, a trending library, the game-changing AI code assistant everyone is using. The tech industry's...

over 1 year ago

Ignore the Hype: How to Avoid Being Deceived by Technological Trends

DC

Daniel Cranney

What is Software Engineering in the Age of AI?

Every few years, developers are told their jobs are about to become obsolete. Early programmers, often working in Assembly or machine code, were told that the rise of high-level languages like C wo...

11 months ago

An engineer with puppet strings attached

From learning to earning

Jobs that call for the skills explored in this talk.

15 days ago • Verified

Founding Developer Advocate

San Francisco, United States

Experienced €150k–190k Remote GIT Bash Linux

about 1 month ago

Tribe Lead - ( Software) Engineering Centre of Excllence

Expert Remote DevOps Backend Build Tools

8 days ago • Verified

Manager, Engineering, Secure Build and SCS Services

Expert Remote Team Leadership

Software Engineer, Client Apps Platform

Expert $329k Remote Ruby Golang Github

Senior Solutions Engineer

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands

Expert Remote Github Devsecops Generative AI

8 days ago • Verified

Principal Software Engineer, Developer Tools

Expert Remote Go Kubernetes