"They look sort of baffled when I explain that no, I want to write code, not manage coders."
Not to condescend, but that will change in ten years.
I base this not on your gender, but on the observation that there are very few old programmers. Everyone debates the reason for this (i.e. is it age discrimination, or is it programmer preference?) but the fact remains that most programmers end up doing other things as they age.
Just out of curiosity, what is the cut off point between young and old programmers? If it's somewhere between 40-50, I would agree that you see fewer programmers in this age range. But I think that also has something to do with fewer positions available at the top compared to all the junior level positions.
If you assume the average programmer will start their career by their mid 20s, ten years seems a little early for "old" programmers to start a mass defection. I would not be surprised if many of the commenters here could be considered "old programmers" by that definition. I don't have a big sample, but in my experience, you're not an "old" programmer until you hit 45-50.
"most programmers end up doing other things as they age"
You base these statements upon what data? Your own observations? Then maybe you need another set of glasses.
There are several million hackers that would disagree with you. Too bad you haven't had a chance to meet too many of them. Probably would have been interesting for both of you.
There's nothing wrong with managing programmers. It was just the assumption that I didn't want to "get my hands dirty" because I was female that bothered me.
I don't know if it's common for project managers to contribute code in other companies. At husband's company, it is pretty much unheard of for for a project manager to write code. Project manager tends to be more of a technical writing/managerial position in his company. There's nothing wrong with that. But I have no wish to be a full time technical writer/manager.
At a company such as Microsoft, you can become a software architect. This means you can focus on the major design issues and have developers implement your design. You can write code, but you don't have to write that much.
As you grow older, you will want to write less code and focus more on software architecture and management of programmers.
Ah, ok. That makes more sense, although it is quite different from what my husband's company considers "managing coders" to be. That does sound more in line with what I want to do long term. Thanks for giving me a different view.
Not to condescend, but that will change in ten years.
I base this not on your gender, but on the observation that there are very few old programmers. Everyone debates the reason for this (i.e. is it age discrimination, or is it programmer preference?) but the fact remains that most programmers end up doing other things as they age.