Our main application was written over many years in Delphi v5 (yes version 5). This is now being converted to WPF. We have the complication that the WPF .Net code has to integrate with Delphi and open in MDI windows within the main Delphi application. ;P Eventually all the Delphi screens and functionality will be rewritten and we will switch over to a complete .Net application. Still many screens to be done. :)

I agree. There is a vast difference between "coders", "programmers" and "analyst programmers". Coders write code to fulfill the complete specification that are given. Sometimes they given the basic code to enter. Programmers have the ability to flesh out less well defined specification by getting answers to the undefined parts of the specification. Analyst programmers read and question the specification they have been to ensure that the specification meet, and will resolve, the problem for which the specification was written. In addition, consideration has be given to the working environment and management of the project. I have worked in organisations in which management not only dictated the specifications for the features or issues, they also dictated the time estimates to complete the feature or resolve the issue. This environment makes it very difficult to raise questions or even make changes to obvious issues.

Similarly to Gary Wheeler, I've been programming for 30 years. Why? I love the challenge. The challenge of fixing some obscure bug that nobody else can find or the fact of turning someone's requirements into a fully fledged system that people want to use. What attracted me? Started out at university, I was helping my girlfriend with an assignment and found I could understand the concepts and write programs. Transferred to the Science degree the next year. Problems? Well were do I start.

• How about the growth in the number of people who have read a book or two, written a MS Access macro and now believe they can produce a complete enterprise wide system and then wonder why they have problems. They then come to the professional to fix up their disaster.
• The perception, especially in the corporate world, that a small change is easy to make and cannot understand why is take 4 weeks to be implemented when the IT group have to follow the corporate change management processes which they didn't do for their adhoc MS Access system.
• The evolving languages and where recruiters and companies want some who has the essential skills of ASP.NET, MVC, C#, WPF, MVVM, HTML 5, JavaScript, Bootstrap, WEbAPI and SQL AND then wonders why they can't find someone.
• And then there is the ageism. How come the recruiters and businesses do not believe that someone over 50 could know or program in the latest languages and technologies. We've only been programming for 30+ years, learning and using multiple languages, flowing with and following changing technologies and methodologies. Yet we get overlooked and they hire a 20 year old whose only just learned to program in one specific language and who has no idea of how to analyse the problem at hand or to even suggest an alternative solution as they have no experience.