I'm 48 and I've been developing software professionally since I was 21 years old. I think I'm every bit as sharp as I used to be, and probably somewhat more productive overall due to my experience. My only fears are degraded eyesight (I have to wear reading glasses now), and age discrimination. Don't believe the hype.
Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?
101–110 of 137 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm 34 as well, and I'm amazed at some of the things my 20 year old self was able to solve (mostly math and physics related stuff). There's a belief (apparently not yet backed by research) that math skills degrade after 35, as this article discusses and tries to disprove: http://www.massey.ac.nz/~rmclachl/overthehill.html However, I don't think it's slowing me down, I'm still capable of learning and producing, and I'…
Very interesting and also terrifying - i'm trying to shift into the indie game space so hearing that my math may get worse than it already is terrifies me. I have a really hard time believing that comprehension of math would decrease with age though. It seems to me that instead people typically stop using it after a certain age and thus their skills deteriorate.
The brain is fully developed by age 25 and starts to lose mass from then until death (see: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19283594). Brains of 90 year olds can be just 60% the size of a young adult. Neurons do not repair well and they (or rather, stem cells) aren't programmed to divide after the skull runs out of room.
I would not worry, though. The brain is very flexible. If you keep your mathematics sharp, you will lose less useful things like old memories instead of skills. Many professionals work in difficult jobs (say surgery) well into their 70s by keeping their skills in use.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?
#103There's an old story, the punchline of which is an invoice that reads something like this:
Pushing button: $1 Knowing which button to push: $9999
After almost 25 years in IT, the meaning is more clear than ever. Skills are great, but experience is invaluable. For better or worse, experience comes with age.
I've been pretty lucky in my career so far. I've not gotten rich by any means, but I've been steadily employed and, with a couple of exceptions, have enjoyed the work I do. I've also had the opportunity to work with some very smart people in various fields, both young and old, and have taken every opportunity to learn from them. Hack life? No. Just live it and learn from it. The only thing the average 20-something has over me is more time to learn.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?
#104There's an old story, the punchline of which is an invoice that reads something like this:
Pushing button: $1 Knowing which button to push: $9999
After almost 25 years in IT, the meaning is more clear than ever. Skills are great, but experience is invaluable. For better or worse, experience comes with age.
I've been pretty lucky in my career so far. I've not gotten rich by any means, but I've been steadily employed and, with a couple of exceptions, have enjoyed the work I do. I've also had the opportunity to work with some very smart people in various fields, both young and old, and have taken every opportunity to learn from them. Hack life? No. Just live it and learn from it. The only thing the average 20-something has over me is more time to learn.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?
#105I'm 35 and overall am feeling at the top of my game. I don't envy the 20 years olds or feel lost. I've learned so much, not just technically but around user and enterprise needs, inter-personal skills, and about myself since I was 18-20 that I absolutely feel better suited for success. I've started eating right and working out, which has helped both body and mind, and I've developed task and time management technique…
> my mind might not be 100% as quick as it was when i was 20 care to elaborate? I'm 34 and I keep hearing that my mind is supposed to slow down but it hasn't yet. I drink 2 cups of coffee a day, don't smoke cigs, am not overweight, try to go for a walk for 30 minutes minimum each day, go to sleep by 9ish and am up by 3 or 4am. I also watch very little TV, read regularly and push myself to learn new stuff on a near co…
For reference I drink 1-2 cups of tea most days, sometimes none. Have never smoked, drank, or done drugs.
For me it's a couple areas I notice:
I have a more difficult time remembering names, specific words, etc...
I used to be able to do relatively difficult math problems in my head without actually thinking about it. Now I'm likely to use my phone to calculate three digit+ sums.
I find it harder to get "in the zone".
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?
#106Being 55 in Austin can be a real downer if you let it. I missed the last two bubbles thanks to being in the semiconductor business. The good news: I avoided most of the insanity. A nest egg, a paid-off house (no mortgage for 6 years), my wife & dogs, my health, and the ability to occasionally travel for pleasure. We put away ~25% of our earnings every month. I go to the gym 4-5 times per week and sweat my ass off. I'…
Good location, good money management, good life plan. Congrats.
Appreciate it. Made my share of mistakes, but still standing.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?
#107The older get the more original the ideas I seem to have.
Strangely the older I get the more unoriginal and older the ideas the younger people seem to think up.. maybe its their inexperience.. but they always seem to be wasting more and more time until its a zero sum game or they give up and just have kids.. then stop doing anything.
It might explain the 10 percent phenom, only a very few people get more original with age.. the rest just degenerate and give up.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
This... I have the same observation and coincidentially we have the same age :)
I'm just a tiny bit older, and I thought I noticed some age discrimination last year. Do you both still have all your scalp hair?
I do still have my scalp hair :) but I have some friends that are bald since early twenties so I don't think it is a major thing.
I don't and ever have worked in USA so it might be a cultural thing though.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?
#109Generally I wrinkle slightly more each year, moan about my joints seizing up and grow more cynical. On a more serious note I am becoming better at what I do because I understand much more of pretty much everything in far greater depth than I used to. And while I perhaps don't have the stamina or raw LoC output ability of a 21 year old any more, I can usually achieve tasks much faster because I know what I'm doing and…
12 years older than you, and can confirm all the things you said in your post above.
I am worried about age discrimination, so I am planning my exit from IT.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
> my mind might not be 100% as quick as it was when i was 20 care to elaborate? I'm 34 and I keep hearing that my mind is supposed to slow down but it hasn't yet. I drink 2 cups of coffee a day, don't smoke cigs, am not overweight, try to go for a walk for 30 minutes minimum each day, go to sleep by 9ish and am up by 3 or 4am. I also watch very little TV, read regularly and push myself to learn new stuff on a near co…
For reference I drink 1-2 cups of tea most days, sometimes none. Have never smoked, drank, or done drugs. For me it's a couple areas I notice: I have a more difficult time remembering names, specific words, etc... I used to be able to do relatively difficult math problems in my head without actually thinking about it. Now I'm likely to use my phone to calculate three digit+ sums. I find it harder to get "in the zone"…
I've started coming to the conclusion that as you stuff more stuff into your brain, the longer it takes to get to any bit of information that isn't in continual use. Larger index, non-linear search time.