Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?

#131

Post by pcsanwald » Mon, Aug 10, 2015, 8:59 PM UTC

I'm 38, and have been working as a professional programmer for 18 years, since I was 20. Here's what works for me:

- Fitness: Eat reasonably and stay in good physical condition (I box and run). I enjoy food but eating in moderation is important as you age.

- Other interests: I've worked as a professional musician since I was 18, a parallel career. After 20 years of working as a guitarist, I've recently embarked on learning upright bass. it's wonderful, and mind opening.

- Varied career: I've been very fortunate to have played a lot of different roles, doing all kinds of development, management, etc. It's easy to get stuck in a rut and not challenge yourself with new experiences, don't let this happen.

- Self awareness: I have a natural inclination to work on things I'm not good at, but have also learned over the years to play to my strengths. This is one of the great advantages of getting older.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?

#132

Post by CuriouslyC » Mon, Aug 10, 2015, 9:03 PM UTC

randcraw wrote: post #86

Amazing. For most of us, your career begins about 22 and ends about 72. So at 50 years, the midpoint would be 47. Yet most of the comments below start with, "I'm 35 and...". Jeez. At 35 you're still just a kid. I'm 57 and I've definitely seen brain changes. At 20 I could learn 80% of new stuff in one pass. That ended by 35, when I had to take and review notes to learn as well. Now at 57, I simply can't remember minut…

I would argue that the issue with math and perspectives isn't so much a decrease in your raw brainpower, more like your brain has become more "specialized" to the things you do very frequently. I'm sure there is a small decrease in raw processing speed, but I expect the largest change is the reduction in flexibility.

As for your reduction in memory/recall, one thing that can help is to learn more diverse information. The connectivity of a network is a function of the diversity of its inputs/outputs, and the more connected a network is, the shorter the average path to any given node (in this case a memory).

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?

#133

Post by andresmanz » Mon, Aug 10, 2015, 9:49 PM UTC

randcraw wrote: post #86

Amazing. For most of us, your career begins about 22 and ends about 72. So at 50 years, the midpoint would be 47. Yet most of the comments below start with, "I'm 35 and...". Jeez. At 35 you're still just a kid. I'm 57 and I've definitely seen brain changes. At 20 I could learn 80% of new stuff in one pass. That ended by 35, when I had to take and review notes to learn as well. Now at 57, I simply can't remember minut…

> I don't retain entire 1000 LOC programs in my head any more.

> Proper nouns are especially tough to recall (famous names especially).

Well, why should you retain entire 1000 LOC programs in your head? If it's not to make fast navigation through a code base possible at all, that's unimportant information. And is it important to recall these names? You should keep in mind that your brain gets better at prioritizing over the years. And prioritizing can be very effective - since I was 18 I've only memorized names of people I met more than two or even three times.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?

#134

Post by arisAlexis » Mon, Aug 10, 2015, 9:57 PM UTC

Although IQ is a debated subject there are many researches claiming that the ability to solve complex problems peaks at about 30 and remains like that until 64. Speed declines. I am good with that because I am not taking part at hackathons.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?

#135

Post by evo_9 » Tue, Aug 11, 2015, 2:05 AM UTC

cryodesign wrote: post #129

evo_9 wrote: post #88

I'm 48 and I do feel that I can get more years out of life because I'm more aware and focused on making it happen. I've been fortune that I grew up playing hockey and developed an almost religious belief in the power of working out. It's the best way to stay sharp mentally, feel better physically, and stave of the effects of aging as best we can right now. We are also supremely lucky because our knowledge in this spa…

Live long enough to live forever(ish)... my goal as well - I missed soaking up knowledge when I was younger and trying to catch up now. In terms of diet, you might also be interested in Thrive Foods by Brendan Brazier - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0738215112/

Thanks I had not seen that before.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?

#136

Post by alanlit » Tue, Aug 11, 2015, 2:28 AM UTC

Man, what a weird question. I'm 61; been programming since 1968 (Ferranti Atlas -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_%28computer%29 -- the first machine with a whole bunch of stuff). What have I learned?:

* Software isn't eating the world. Software is the world. * Software has very little to do with the next 'disrupting X'. That is just VC twaddle trying to pull one over on the rest of us. Do not mistake floozy business models for solid value add.

If you want to 'hack life' then solve really hard problems (or play really hard music - your choice). Do not fixate on 20 year olds and their next big thing. Finding and solving big problems will juice your Amygdala, and said juicing will ensure a happy life hack above and beyond 'the average Joe'. Though quite why that is such an important goal is beyond me (do you really want to be the "last man standing"?).

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?

#137

Post by jakejake » Tue, Aug 11, 2015, 3:54 AM UTC

hluska wrote: post #63

zepolen wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I honestly thought that I would feel exactly the same at 40 that I did at 20. No you didn't. That's why you told your friends to slap you. So you're now married, live a boring life just like the 40 year olds you saw when you were 20. Justifying it to yourself in every way possible. Despite the fact you still long for that 'fun' past. Grow a pair man. Lying to yourself gets you nowhere no matter how good it feels.

The point is that his life isn't boring - his priorities changed.

(Unfortunately I can't reply to the parent since it got flagged)

To add to what hluska wrote - Imagine your 5 year old self, thinking that when you are 20 your dream job will be riding on a garbage truck. You will spend every dime of your income on candy and Pokemon figures. You will live in a treehouse in your parents back yard, and girls (or guys) are yucky. Those things may all be awesome. At 20 you might even do some of them for a laugh, but they're certainly not life goals anymore. At 5 years old, you simply couldn't conceive of what would be significant at 20.

Everything that I wanted at 20 I did - to excess. I exceeded every goal that ever occurred to my 20 year old self. I did it to the point where I grew bored. New things became more exciting. I continued to grow. If I was still running with my 20-year-old self's plan - I would honestly consider myself a failure.