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Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?

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Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?

#481

Post by jetti »

manish_gill wrote: post #429
jetti wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did my Master’s part-time at DePaul University with almost all of the program online while I was working. They have an AI track but I am not sure how good it is.

Do you think it was worth it? Did you like the program?

I did enjoy the program and for me it was 100% worth it. I had a non-CS undergrad degree and by taking classes I was able to get my first developer job and the things I learned in the program allowed me to end up getting a more advanced position at a company than the position they had open. They had a UI position but ended up getting a backend position working on their trading platform due to some of the work I had done in the graduate program. One downside for me, though, was my math background was lacking (took discrete math, business calculus, a relatively light stats class and econometrics in undergrad) so I wasn't able to do a lot of the more interesting looking classes. Also, I was excited about the multiple compiler classes that were on the course catalog but none were offered in the 5 years I was in the program.

It is hard for me to say if the program would be worth it for somebody with an undergrad degree in CS. The cost of the program is incredibly high and I walked away from the program with ~$80k in loans (could have been a bit less but had to take more in the beginning to be able to support my wife as well). I'm also not sure how rigorous the program is compared to others.

Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?

#482

Post by mikekchar »

bcrosby95 wrote: post #110
blub wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what are the MFC experts doing nowadays? Anyway that's precisely the problem - either get sucked into all the horrible fads or not finding a job. That's a pretty bad choice.

Learn just enough about the fads so you can hold a conversation about them, but don't invest heavily in every one of them. You don't need to tech hop every year - give things at least a couple years to shake out. This will let you skip a lot of the time wasting BS that comes with fad driven development.

This is great advice. The other thing about learning a little bit about all the new fads is that you can fairly quickly figure out bits where going a bit more deeply will help you out in general. For example, I would not recommend using React for every front end project (or even most ;-) ), but playing with React and understanding what it was trying to accomplish legitimately made me a better programmer.

Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?

#483

Post by joelbluminator »

aws_ls wrote: post #199

Welcome to HN and for making this place more magical by your presence. Have seen other very senior programmers here over the years. Paul Lutus comes to mind now[1]. One question: Do you go through a mid life crisis in programming in your 40s/50s? My story (just felt like sharing): I am in my 40s and have been programming for 30 years (I first wrote in Fortran in my Engineering College, 1st semester). Later profession…

Just keep up the good work, glasses or no glasses

Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?

#484

Post by eru »

My grandfather was born in 1945 and worked as a programmer in East Germany and then unified Germany. He retired a few years ago.

He started as a mathematicatian, and probably worked with computers professionally only after 1963.

Programming in East Germany was .. interesting. For example, they used punch cards long after they were out of date in the west. My grandfather still has lots of punch card origami he did while waiting for his batch jobs to finish.

Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?

#485

Post by mertnesvat »

chrisseaton wrote: post #418
jkingsbery wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did you go about getting your phd? Did you take a break from paid work to go to school? Did you work on your thesis nights/ weekends? Do you feel like you learned from your advisors, some if whom I'd imagine were younger than you? Did you study an area related to your work at the time? Or did you use it to learn a new area?

> Do you feel like you learned from your advisors, some if whom I'd imagine were younger than you? Why do you think it'd be unusual to learn from someone younger than yourself?

Really good point!

I think as an internet generation we are the first ones to experience decreasing importance of the age.

Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?

#487

Post by badpun »

kshacker wrote: post #350
jlokier wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Then after 2 stents and change in lifestyle, I find I can do same or more than what I could do 5 years back, maybe a decade back. What kind of change in lifestyle made such a positive difference for you?

It varies from person to person, but for me: cut down/eliminate sugar (my soda consumption is now 1-2/year whereas earlier it would be every day, multiple sometimes), cut down/eliminate lattes, eat only as per hunger, diet is more of a whole foods plant based but I take eggs regularly and meat once a week while shunning all packaged/frozen food. Still lot more veggies than carbs. And exercise, it is not an option, yo…

> Still lot more veggies than carbs.

Uh, vegies are mostly carbs?

Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?

#488

Post by amboo7 »

em-bee wrote: post #101
mikadel wrote: post #80

In my company, we can get "Senior Developer" title after 3 to 4 year experience. What your current title?

methusalem, god of code :-)

In French (I work in France), sénior (senior) sounds similar to seigneur (lord), so I use this to my advantage.

Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?

#489

Post by mnw21cam »

purplezooey wrote: post #473
ecpottinger wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AAARRHHH! A friend has been telling me about her dad, he was full of life and when he came up to my cabin he was a whirlwind of activity. But after they sold the house (he loved gardening) and moved into a condo where there is little to do she can see him going downhill month by month. Before he had a purpose in his life (gardening and house maintenance), now he just has the sit around or go on bike trips. It is a sh…

Bike trips are more exercise than gardening, though..

I wouldn't be so sure. I did a load of gardening over the weekend, and it involved heavy things. I'm sure I got more exercise to more muscles in my body than I would if I had gone on a bike ride.

Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?

#490

Post by Lukas_Skywalker »

badpun wrote: post #487
kshacker wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It varies from person to person, but for me: cut down/eliminate sugar (my soda consumption is now 1-2/year whereas earlier it would be every day, multiple sometimes), cut down/eliminate lattes, eat only as per hunger, diet is more of a whole foods plant based but I take eggs regularly and meat once a week while shunning all packaged/frozen food. Still lot more veggies than carbs. And exercise, it is not an option, yo…

> Still lot more veggies than carbs. Uh, vegies are mostly carbs?

Even the veggies with a very high carb content (potatoes, corn) are low (~15-20%). Bread has about 50%, maccaroni about 35%, while other veggies (broccoli, carrots) usually have less than 10% carbs.
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