Live data from Hacker News

Learning to code at 56

medium.freecodecamp.com

1–10 of 165 posts

Re: Learning to code at 56

#3
Well, that plan does sound plausible.

Seems smart and social enough to get a good job in development.

And on top of that he is quite good at writing. Maybe that's something - in combination with programming skills - he could focus on, career-wise...

Re: Learning to code at 56

#5
As long as you still have a working memory, you can learn anything at any age, I don't go along with this 'old-dog-can't-learn-new-tricks' thinking. Though obviously when you're younger it's markedly easier to pick up a new skill.

Re: Learning to code at 56

#6
post #4

bootcamps - the best way of driving both wages and software quality down

I don't think bootcamps turn out lower quality developers and I don't think they will drive wages down. Currently they are web focused but I think the bootcamp style is far better at teaching programming/computer information then the current university enviroment. We might well see a bootcamp one day that does cover a different spectrum of computing then currently dominated by such schools (Realtime/Trading/Firmware/Embeded/DSP).

Re: Learning to code at 56

#7
post #5

As long as you still have a working memory, you can learn anything at any age, I don't go along with this 'old-dog-can't-learn-new-tricks' thinking. Though obviously when you're younger it's markedly easier to pick up a new skill.

It does take longer for many people to learn new things when they are 50-60 though.

I do think we have to be realistic about the issue that many people who learned and performed complex intellectual skills in their 20s/30s no longer perform this kind of ability to pivot in their 50s/60s; to learn a new craft that depends on learning a lot of new information/skills.

Of course this doesn't mean that all people in their 50s/60s are like this. Like this post illustrates.

Re: Learning to code at 56

#8
This appears to be an Ad for free code camp (not that there's anything wrong with that). Just ten years younger in a similar boat, I'm neither taking a boot camp, nor writing about my "CIS". To each their own. Learning is a life long activity. It shouldn't matter what one learns at any age.

Re: Learning to code at 56

#9
Obviously things are going to be tough as a 50s junior developer, but it sounds like you are up for the challenge. And hey, we all have to do something with the time we are here. It might as well be something you enjoy, challenges be damned.

Re: Learning to code at 56

#10

Obviously things are going to be tough as a 50s junior developer, but it sounds like you are up for the challenge. And hey, we all have to do something with the time we are here. It might as well be something you enjoy, challenges be damned.

I'd imagine by your 50s you'd have already learned the right attitude to succeed at anything: do the best you can, ask for help often and speak up right away when scope explodes!

This makes things easier, not more difficult.

Post reply on HN