Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Learning to code at 56

medium.freecodecamp.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 165 posts

Re: Learning to code at 56

#21

Post by lordnacho »

johansch wrote: post #7
hd4 wrote: 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…

How much of it is age, and how much of it is having kids along with an established routine?

I find it pretty easy to learn things, just not when I'm interrupted by the kids. There's no reason why at 36 I can't listen to lectures about philosophy or read a bit about some new tech. What's hard is getting focused time to do a proper project, because my time outside of work hours is taken up by parenting.

Re: Learning to code at 56

#22

Post by treehau5 »

JackFr wrote: post #17
mfukar wrote: post #4

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

credentialism - the best way of inflating wages with artificial scarcity,

why is it artificial? Credentials are everywhere. You need credentials to be an account, a physician, a teacher, a lawyer, a dentist, a chiropractor, a (insert various iteration of crazy welding techniques) welder, a steel fabricator (AISC), a child services worker, heavy machinery operator, if you are an engineer and want to work for the public, you have to get licensed, and the list can go on and on. And I am really, really thankful that the above jobs require credentials.

Re: Learning to code at 56

#23

Post by yaur »

weakeyesforit wrote: post #16

At my age the main problem is that I read a lot in a computer screen and my eyes get tired. Recently I read in the last weak several books for learning Erlang and Elixir and one for refreshing ruby. Last month I learned java by doing several projects with netbeans. Initially I programmwd only with gedit and googling stack overflow. I was programming feom six pm to five am to help my son with a java project. Honestly…

They make "computer glasses" that are supposed to help reduce eye strain associated with computer use. I don't personally use them so I can't say if they work, but it's probably worth it for you to look into them.

Re: Learning to code at 56

#24

Post by jameskegel »

webwanderings wrote: post #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.

Maybe I'm having trouble parsing your comment, but it is not readily apparent if you're critical or in support of the post. Could you clarify your statement?

Re: Learning to code at 56

#25

Post by jameskegel »

mfukar wrote: post #4

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

That's a very non-inclusive way of thinking, and it is hard to imagine that it benefits the community as a whole. What if you substituted developers, in this situation, for doctors?

Re: Learning to code at 56

#26

Post by pier25 »

Baeocystin wrote: post #11
johansch wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Speaking as a 43-year old, while I do have some health issues that I didn't have in my 20's, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, I find learning new things as easy as it's ever been. And I honestly don't think I am unusual in that regard. I have a much wider framework of accumulated knowledge than I did 20 years ago, and leveraging that, I can see how wider parts of systems interrelate with a clarity that I never came clo…

I'm 37 and I find that I'm smarter and wiser now than I was in my 20s which makes learning much easier even if my brain is almost double the age.

Re: Learning to code at 56

#27

Post by wakkaflokka »

mfukar wrote: post #4

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

I feel like this is a common fear in many disciplines. Clinical psychology PhD's thinking PsyD's reduce the quality/wages of their profession (this was a huge contention among psych professors during undergrad), MD's thinking expanded practice privileges for NP's or PA's reduce quality/wages of their profession (and related, anesthesiologists worrying that CRNA's and AA's reduce their wages), PhD-educated machine learning/CS experts worrying that 2-year online data science masters reduce the quality/wages of their profession, etc. I mean, I have the same fear in many ways. Just pointing it out because I find it interesting. I guess the question is - is it reality or not?

Re: Learning to code at 56

#28

Post by grok2 »

webwanderings wrote: post #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.

Perhaps it really is an ad, but if it is real, I am impressed that the person thinks at 56, he has enough runway in life to make a serious contribution by coding :-)...I like that attitude.

Re: Learning to code at 56

#29

Post by mfukar »

jameskegel wrote: post #25
mfukar wrote: post #4

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

That's a very non-inclusive way of thinking, and it is hard to imagine that it benefits the community as a whole. What if you substituted developers, in this situation, for doctors?

I'd rather die of an abscessed tooth than visit a doctor out of whatever the equivalent of bootcamps would be. I'm grateful to society I don't have to.

Re: Learning to code at 56

#30

Post by mgkimsal »

grok2 wrote: post #28
webwanderings wrote: post #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.

Perhaps it really is an ad, but if it is real, I am impressed that the person thinks at 56, he has enough runway in life to make a serious contribution by coding :-)...I like that attitude.

why wouldn't he? plenty of folks much younger than me have made 'serious contributions' in far less time than I have.
Post reply on HN