I have over 30 years of development experience and I still have to do a LOT of research and learning. Not only to work on a new problem, but to improve existing code/solutions. The rapid change in development platforms and tools requires constant learning to be an "experienced" developer. Granted, experience helps a lot to determine a solution and identify problems quicker, but the actual methods to development are constantly changing. AS you gain experience you find you own style and approach for development projects. It also helps to improve how you do research and training to be more efficient.

I have been doing application design and programming for over 30 years and I love what I do. I can't classify myself as a graybeard programmer as I am female. But I have earned every non-red hair on my head. I truly feel that the years of experience and range of projects I h ave worked on give me a rich knowledgebase to draw from. I have worked free-lance and for corporate teams. I am at the best of both worlds now. Working for a large company, but outside of IT and with the freedom to work "outside of the box" and to determine my own development strategies. I love it!! I have thought about going into management, but I like the design and coding too much. I feel the real challenge is to be constantly learning and trying new things. I see this as a long-term career as I would not want to do anything else until I retire.