insolvency of IT profession

Hi there,

I have a friend of mine who was a physicist, but he became a Windows C++ programmer in his new career in Australia in order to survive. He got employed in a large medical device company in W. Europe as a programmer, and was able to move laterally into an electronics engineer job, which he was glad immensely. He says that the programmer's job is unnatural for a human, and damages human brain. He says programmers have this unhealthy way of thinking which is incompatible with the real-world life. Besides, he said programming was boring for him.

I take it that one should not aspire to be a programmer, because he will eventually leave the occupation. The other conclusion is that a person in the electronics engineer-type of job can have a sustainable career until the end of his life on a moderate-level salary. At the same time, programmer might have a high salary, however he will have to leave his occupation some time in his career due to the inner insolvency of the programmer's job. I presume it will be hard for a programmer in his late 40s to start a career in another field. The conclusion is one should not be envy to the high wages of a programmer.

What do you think guys ?

Regards,