Hopefully by the time that day comes, humans will already be doing everything themselves by using AI, and therefore no longer need to work.
Need a website? Ask AI to build one. Need food? Ask an AI robot to plant and harvest it for you in your garden. Need clothes? Ask AI to weave some for you. Need shelter? Ask AI to obtain the necessary materials and build a house for you on a plot of land designated to you by the government. No money required.
I think the only truly scarce resource is land. But even then technology can make it so you can do more with the same amount of land.
In the old days almost everyone farmed, because you could only get so much per acre and so everyone had to have a plot of land that they farm what they need for. Today with mechanization and chemical fertilizers we’ve essentially reached post scarcity when it comes to food. Now only less than 10% of the population farms when 100 years ago, it was more than 90%.
I’m not sure automation and AI can be such a bad thing, because it could mean that less and less people will have to work for a living. I’m sure economic systems will have to be revamped.
You should be picking a tech or job that you are passionate about. You’re going to have a hard time with coding as a career if you don’t have a genuine interest in it since staying competitive requires some self study in your free time.
As others have said you could pick something there is a high demand for eg web dev but then the competition is also high, so I wouldn’t stress too much about this.
So in terms of programming the main choices are:
If you’re into any of those google for the best book, read it and get a foundation then just pick a starter project and build it.
Age thing only true if working for kool aid fuelled startups run by 20 year olds.
Then no need to worry that much about an aging population. Some jobs will still require humans , things like plumbing and human interactions I guess. Although, AI girlfriends …seem to be making inroads in that. 
An alternative route is to find an Open Source project that’s been around for awhile that piques your interest and has a decent number of active developers and start trying to do small things. Maybe some documentation first, then review the bug-base for easy things (e.g. fixing typos), peruse the code for simple functions, (e.g. UI components), see if you can work out what does what.
Then grab a copy of the code and do your own work on it, fix bigger bugs, add small functions etc. When you have something you think is worth contributing, submit it to the project maintainers, see what they say about it and why, wash, rinse, repeat.
This will teach you many things:
After a few months noodling on one project, try another, it will probably be very different in all respects!
Do this for half a dozen or more projects, and you’ll start to see patterns, and you’ll have a lot more experience, (for better or for worse), as well as a public track record you can point at, and hopefully even some people to vouch for your ability.
This isn’t the fastest route, but it reduces the risk of burnout and opens more doors in the long run. (And do try to make friends, ask for help, let people know you’re looking, you may get a job offer!)
To be a freelance computer professional, you need the proven record of experience and credentials (and specifically in Taiwan, you need connections). No companies will hire someone fresh out of college as a freelancer.
I’m not quite that old, but I don’t care. My colleagues are around 10-15 years younger. Many people grind out the same career their whole life and “put in their time to retirement”. Sounds like jail.
I feel fortunate to have had numerous careers. Did things I wanted to do. It’s made me a much richer person to have skills in diverse fields. While I don’t have the same level of skills as others in my tech field, I’ve been very fortunate to have diverse experiences which really rounds me out. Moreover, I have been able to find work.
So, zero code past 40 to employment is possible. I just wanted to see if I could do it. Been a very enlightening journey. One thing I did notice: many people in my new field have zero sense of humour. It’s what I miss from doing English. Some co-workers had me in stitches…
swoon
Pluralsight is generally the go-to for code learning. It does have a lot of problems, but a lot of software dev type jobs offer it as a company benefit.
Basically just do a few of the “fundamentals” courses, follow some of the workshop demos, upload that to github and stick it on your CV that you are proficient.
With programming, regardless of your skill and experience level, when you start a new coding job, there is always a “oh fuck, I have no idea what I’m doing” feeling for the first six months at least.
Yeah but you have 50 years of life experience behind you, so probably have learnt better than to be phased by the perceived innovation of youth. Gotta piss with the cock ya got!
Same can be said for any job. If I was 50 years old and started working at McDonald’s and my manager was 19 it would be the same feeling.
Would mcdonalds in Taiwan even hire you if you were 50?
Which McDonald’s do you go to where you see 19-year-old managers?
Also, I think he was suggesting that you remain in your current career, and not suggesting you apply for a job at McDonald’s as a 50-year-old bus boy.
you see shift managers younger than that in the US.
It’s gotta be from connections or they worked at McDonald’s as soon as they were old enough to flip burgers.
I think you grossly overestimate what’s required to be a shift manager.
So some guy fresh out of college can be a shift manager? Are they better paid? It takes little to be a department manager at Walmart for example but they’re paid a dollar more per hour than associates but have loads more responsibilities.
dudes in high school can be shift managers. they get paid a little more.
麥當勞多元友善的工作氛圍，正能符合中高齡求職者的需求，全台22,000名員工中，目前45歲以上佔總數17%、逾3,800人，其中更有逾1成已超過60歲；且中高齡員工超過3成在職都在10年以上。