Back to Work

I retired when I was 54. I was a computer programmer, software developer. I am now 58.

In October when the stock market was crashing I got a call from a guy named Steve who runs the information systems department at a local mid size company. He wanted to know if I would be interested in doing some part time work. Someone I had worked with in the past was now working for him and had recommended me.

A few months earlier I would have turned him down. The life of total leisure was too much fun. I would not even have talked to him, but the stock market crash was giving me second thoughts about the wisdom of early retirement. I met with Steve and liked him. I was surprised at how excited I got as he talked about the system and the project. A side of my personality woke up that is like a little kid who sees working with computer systems as playing with fancy toys.

He made me an offer and I accepted. I would be working 20 hours a week at home. He gave me a new state of the art computer with all the best development software. I would make more than enough to live on from that part time work and could even add a little to my retirement investments. It is an ongoing project. If it works out I will be doing it for several years.

This started out as my way of sleeping better at night in the current economic conditions, but so far it has also been great fun.

I was lucky to get the offer. At my age, and having been out of the market for 4 years, it is unusual to get calls offering well paid part time programming work. He actually prefers hiring older workers because we are more stable. Life is a mixture of good luck and bad luck. This was my good luck.