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Fifty

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Re: Fifty

#71

Post by NoCulturalFit »

greggman wrote: post #15
cstross wrote: post #8

I hit 51 next month, and that's ... well. These decadal anniversaries seem to get more onerous each time. 20? No problem, it just means you're not a teenager any more! 30? Okay, you're officially a grownup, but you can still party! 40 was pause for concern, but it isn't what it used to be, the threshold of middle age: that's 50. Oops ... Well, as Terry Pratchett observed, inside every old man there's an eight year ol…

I'm in a similar place to the OP. I turn 50 in a week. I get told often I look in my 30s. The majority of my friends are in their 30s. Hung out for 6 months with 28yr olds forming a startup last year, they asked me to join them. With few exceptions I don't fit with people my age. What I find frustrating is the society at large won't let me ignore my age. You get categorized all the time. Some meetup or dating event i…

Man I don't look forward of being 50. It's a hard time getting a decent programming job at 30, imagine 50 :(

Re: Fifty

#72

Post by tonyedgecombe »

rufugee wrote: post #60

I'm early 40s at the moment. I love technology, and love programming and system tinkering/admin in particular. I'm currently a CTO/CIO in a niche industry, although I write code almost daily and participate in various technical trenches many CIOs wouldn't venture into on a daily basis due to lack of resources. I am sadly terrified of getting older. Not because I fear death (well, maybe a little), but I fear the silve…

"namely, a senior employee likely has a lot of his/her own personal overhead to cover, so salary requirements will be understandably greater"

I wouldn't assume that, once the mortgage is paid off and kids have left home the cost of living plummets. In fact there could be a real cost advantage if nobody else is offering them a job.

Re: Fifty

#74

Post by Joeri »

porker wrote: post #28
cstross wrote: post #8

I hit 51 next month, and that's ... well. These decadal anniversaries seem to get more onerous each time. 20? No problem, it just means you're not a teenager any more! 30? Okay, you're officially a grownup, but you can still party! 40 was pause for concern, but it isn't what it used to be, the threshold of middle age: that's 50. Oops ... Well, as Terry Pratchett observed, inside every old man there's an eight year ol…

> If you're under 35, my advice would be to think about that. Do you really want to be locked into doing more or less what you're doing now when you're in your sixties? If not, now is the time to change. The later you leave it, the harder it will be. Pause for thought indeed. Thank you. My immediate response though was "how can I predict jobs 20-30 years into the future, when I can't even predict my field in 5-10 yea…

The way I think you do an end run around that is to not think in terms of tools but in terms of skills. If your skill today is building CRUD forms, that's what you'll do in 30 years, only you'll do it in that decade's tools. I think you're then supposed to look at the supply and demand of skills, and try to gain a skillset that will be in high demand but with a limited supply. For example, building CRUD forms has probably reached peaked demand, and the influx of programmers in low wage markets is going to put downward pressure on wages for decades to come, so no matter how well you keep up with tools, you don't want to be in that market for the next few decades. On the other hand, if you specialise in data science and assorted algorithms, you're probably set for life, because demand for those skills will keep rising as software gets smarter, and the difficulty of gaining those skills will limit supply.

Re: Fifty

#75

Post by joeyspn »

cstross wrote: post #8

I hit 51 next month, and that's ... well. These decadal anniversaries seem to get more onerous each time. 20? No problem, it just means you're not a teenager any more! 30? Okay, you're officially a grownup, but you can still party! 40 was pause for concern, but it isn't what it used to be, the threshold of middle age: that's 50. Oops ... Well, as Terry Pratchett observed, inside every old man there's an eight year ol…

Jack Ma has also 50++, and in this interview he gives interesting advice about how to manage your professional path during the years (20, 30, 40, 50, etc)...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCr9-7It7fY

Re: Fifty

#76

Post by IkmoIkmo »

pronoiac wrote: post #70
IkmoIkmo wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity if I may, what'd you be doing if you woke up 30 tomorrow morning?

There's an Ask Metafilter question about what you'd say to your 30-something self: https://ask.metafilter.com/224770/The-timetravellers-advice-... And also forty-something: http://ask.metafilter.com/268248/Advice-to-your-forty-year-o...

My biggest takeaway: I really ought to bulk up on floss straight away!

Re: Fifty

#77

Post by dack »

paul9290 wrote: post #66

I just turned 40 and whoa I've never felt such a drastic change previously, as ... - Im starting to lose my hair - I gained ten pounds a week or two after my birthday (lost it now after getting back to the gym); 5'10 178 now. - I suddenly succumb to a foot disease older men have to deal with... it came and went, but could come back. WTH? - Slight depression from all the above. I want my 30s back!

It seems all relative... I'm 29 and wishing I was in my early twenties again. I'm seeing my younger ambitions slowly seeming less and less plausible. And yet, I've seen posts from 23 year olds wishing they had done more studying in highschool/college to get a better head start on their career.

Maybe it would help to try to imagine genuinely being another decade older in the same situation, looking back on today - and then do the thing you regret not doing!

Re: Fifty

#78

Post by Afton »

As someone in my early-towards-mid 40s, is it really hard to stay employed? I get that lots of folks are into consulting at this age or other versions of self-employed, but as a guy who got into this field fairly late, I'm concerned that I'm going to end up 50 and jobless which will really mess with my retirement plans.

Re: Fifty

#79

Post by mikestew »

tmaly wrote: post #13

I have a friend that is 53 that still does triathlons with people half his age.

Not uncommon, I'm 52 and still beat most of the men who are literally half my age. I even outright win a race once in a while if I'm not on the west coast (much more competitive, I've found). Granted, there's a bit of innate talent and hard training involved.

Frankly, I don't give it a lot of thought, I just run like I always have. It's not until someone else points it out that I'm like "hmm, I guess that isn't too bad for an 'old guy'".

As a sibling commenter pointed out, 50-ish is when the kids move out and you've finally got a little money and vacation time, as well as time to train. Time for that $7000 Colnago race bike you've always wanted, eh?

Re: Fifty

#80

Post by elorant »

saiya-jin wrote: post #31
elorant wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the contrary, I’m on my early forties and my physical condition is way better than it was twenty years ago. I exercise a lot, eat much healthier food because now I know whilst on my twenties I’d eat any crap that came my way, I have a steady sleeping pattern trying to wake up early each morning so I can make the most of the day and generally speaking I feel like I have at least another twenty energetic years ahead…

>The only thing I find harder as I grow up is to fall in love. It’s not that it doesn’t happen, it just doesn’t happen with the frequency and the easiness it did twenty years ago. But then again that might be a good thing, not to fall in love with every gorgeous woman that crosses your path. I don't need to be even near your age to know for sure that love is a term used for something different than this. Much deeper,…

Love is bonding. But to get there you first have to fall in love. And as you grow older, at least in my case, you don't get so easily enthusiastic when you meet an interesting woman. You've learn to keep your hopes down in case the whole thing goes south. It's a defensive mechanism to keep you from feeling heart-broken every so often.
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