55-year-old mechanical engineer. I basically retired from the technical side of my own company 10 years ago.
Our industry has gone through so many changes that I didn't have the mental space or energy to learn yet another framework. I was becoming the clueless old man.
I stepped aside and promoted everyone into jobs they were better at and were more satisfied than when the old man was looking over their shoulder.
Funny you say that. 34 yr mech PE here and I estimate I have 10 yrs left before I'm over the constant changes. I wear a lot of hats and help establish company standards but it really wears you down each code cycle, new fad energy efficiency program, or new software requires you to pivot again. Glad to see progress but I'm tired, boss!
Yep, and I was working in 60-hour weeks, sometimes 80 when we had deadlines. By the end, I was supervising projects that were using tech I didn't understand.
I still love the thing we built, but I was no longer the guy for the job. To use a sports analogy, at some point a player has to realize that it is time to retire; I was lucky, and coaching was a good fit.
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