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Ask HN: Is programming a “young person's game”?

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Re: Ask HN: Is programming a “young person's game”?

#91

Post by 6stringmerc »

cyco130 wrote: post #63

I'm 43 and I took my first fulltime gig 6 years ago. I was working in unrelated sectors before that. I've been wanting to relocate to another country lately and I managed to find a -better paying- job there too, and I signed the contract recently. It's my childhood hobby and I did do some open source or freelance work from time to time but never full time. I was a fine programmer at 16 but I'm a much better "engineer…

Congrats on the joy of a fogey bar band! I’m sure it keeps your brain more sharp than you think. Keeping those songs memorized and the sync up when life is a fountain of youth.

Re: Ask HN: Is programming a “young person's game”?

#92

Post by tchaffee »

jgilias wrote: post #77

You can be Grug: https://grugbrain.dev/ Software engineering needs ten self-aware Grugs for every child prodigy. Getting in might be hard though. See, I’ve been on the hiring side and guilty as charged, I have passed on people aiming for Junior positions later in life. Not because ageism or anything, but because I need to make sure I have someone who just likes tinkering and staring at a monitor the whole day, not so…

You are using a poor heuristic that favors young people. That is age discrimination. It's illegal in many countries, and unethical in all. You should try to throw out the heuristic and find a better way to determine interest.

For what it's worth, some engineers who are "just in it for the money" consistently pump out high quality code. They just go home at 6pm. While some of those who love it are working towards burnout. I have hired both. Both have their pros and cons.

Re: Ask HN: Is programming a “young person's game”?

#93

Post by bigpeopleareold »

throwaway0asd wrote: post #15

Programming is diverse, so let me explain from my narrow perspective. I am a JavaScript developer. I am much older than you. It is very much a young persons game, but let me qualify this. Most people actively programming JavaScript for employment cannot program, at least not to the level considered minimally employable in many lesser popular programming fields. Hiring is structured around this, so much so that employ…

I like this point-of-view about people who programs to get hired. In one way or another, I seen plenty of people like that. These are people I will absolutely never hire, precisely because I cannot count on them to broaden their horizon and talk about or challenge the direction of projects. Of course, those things shouldn't take away from orderly production of software, but a truly excellent software engineer shows depth in understanding of their craft in practice. It's really good that this, for me, has consistently shown itself in interviews, even with junior developers.

Re: Ask HN: Is programming a “young person's game”?

#94

Post by yodsanklai »

> You only see top programmers who started as kids and probably won some Olympiads and programming competitions, and this continued in their 20s and maybe kept their skill up till 30s but that's about it.

Olympiads have almost nothing in common with actual engineering work. Overall "regular" coding isn't as brain-intensive as mathematics. Lots of 40+ software engineers are productive even in fast-paced companies so you still have some time. 50+ seem more rare where I work.

Re: Ask HN: Is programming a “young person's game”?

#95

Post by Slow_Dog »

I'm in my mid 50's. The software group I'm part of has a spread of ages with people older than me all the way down to new graduates. I was new graduate once.

For the vast majority of programmers, programming just a regular job in companies that most people won't ever have heard of, in just the same way the majority of other jobs are.

Re: Ask HN: Is programming a “young person's game”?

#96

Post by jgilias »

tchaffee wrote: post #92
jgilias wrote: post #77

You can be Grug: https://grugbrain.dev/ Software engineering needs ten self-aware Grugs for every child prodigy. Getting in might be hard though. See, I’ve been on the hiring side and guilty as charged, I have passed on people aiming for Junior positions later in life. Not because ageism or anything, but because I need to make sure I have someone who just likes tinkering and staring at a monitor the whole day, not so…

You are using a poor heuristic that favors young people. That is age discrimination. It's illegal in many countries, and unethical in all. You should try to throw out the heuristic and find a better way to determine interest. For what it's worth, some engineers who are "just in it for the money" consistently pump out high quality code. They just go home at 6pm. While some of those who love it are working towards burn…

Just to make it clear, I’m writing this to get it out there for people who want to move into development a bit later in life. Such that they can improve their portfolios and resumes. I mean, we didn’t have an arduous interview process, but many companies do. And if you have to pass 4 filters from initial HR screening to a conversation with EMs, you absolutely have to show why you’re better for this role than a bunch of other people you’re competing with.

Re: Ask HN: Is programming a “young person's game”?

#97

Post by captaincaveman »

"Top Programmers", hmm depends what you mean by this, do you mean solving the sort of very narrow problems as done in Olympiads and the like, or something more useful.

I suspect the 'Top Mathematicians' are not those that are best at calculation, like you might get in Olympiads, but those which are able to apply maths to solve real world problems or produce creative breakthroughs. Being good enough at calculation very likely helps, but isn't sufficient.

Re: Ask HN: Is programming a “young person's game”?

#98

Post by eimrine »

spacechild1 wrote: post #3

> You only see top programmers who started as kids and probably won some Olympiads and programming competitions, and this continued in their 20s and maybe kept their skill up till 30s but that's about it. Where do you get this idea?

Not my quote but I consider this statement as totally realistic at least in sports.

Re: Ask HN: Is programming a “young person's game”?

#100

Post by BrandoElFollito »

I was one of the top performer in Physics Olympics (national level) and ended up as a brilliant student and then average scientist. I left academia after my PhD in physics because I was much better in IT. I really miss the teaching part though.

That would be it for the Olympics vs capacities further in life.

If you look at the amount of programming, I really flew up after my 40's, when I started to code for pleasure. I am a much better developer than I was at 20, not only because of experience but also because of a different approach to code (that comes from, for a lack of better word, maturity)

My father started to extensively and successfully use computers (drawing, calculations) in his 60's.

The fact that you "missed your chance to be a kid prodigy" has nothing to do with your age. If you are in a country where education is of good quality you would have been selected (for Olympics for instance) when you were a kid. You were not and there must be a reason for that (I am not trying to be mean here - what I mean is that either you showed no interest at that age, or that the school was not caring enough, or whatever other reason - but this is over now)

TL;DR: if you are interested in programming, drop the philosophical part and get to coding.

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