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Learning to code at 56

medium.freecodecamp.com

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Re: Learning to code at 56

#141

Post by JKCalhoun »

sireat wrote: post #133
beat wrote: post #39

At 51, I've noticed there are really two kinds of people at my age... people who are completely beaten, and people who are winning. Once you hit 40 or so, the scope of mortality really hits you. You realize that you've probably already had half your productive life, maybe half a career. You start seeing peers die of "old age" - heart attacks and strokes and stuff. For most, they're beaten, defeated. They decide this…

How do you prioritize on medium to long term plans? At 40+ I acutely realize how little time is left and how little one can accomplish. Every day I am reminded on how quickly time passes and hevel ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecclesiastes ) of it all. Again, I enjoy the little things: the random coffee shop with my SO, my kids' smile, the view from the bridge when I am biking and so on. But starting anything with…

52 here, I put off things I know I can do in my old age and focus on the things requiring my physical health. So I am planning a PCT section hike with my daughter this summer but collecting plastic models to assemble when I'm 80. :-)

Re: Learning to code at 56

#142

Post by beat »

anigbrowl wrote: post #125
beat wrote: post #39

At 51, I've noticed there are really two kinds of people at my age... people who are completely beaten, and people who are winning. Once you hit 40 or so, the scope of mortality really hits you. You realize that you've probably already had half your productive life, maybe half a career. You start seeing peers die of "old age" - heart attacks and strokes and stuff. For most, they're beaten, defeated. They decide this…

That's a bit simplistic. Certainly there are people who defeated and bitter due to shallowness and lack of imagination vs those with the will and wisdom to pursue their objectives effectively. But it seems to me that you're identifying a philosophical dichotomy within your professional class. But besides the philosophical divide, people are sorted by circumstantial conditions, depending on what good/bad luck they've…

It's not just my professional class, though. I've observed this with friends in wildly varying professions - some poor, some very financially successful. But the ones who are down have sort of peaked out on their ambition. Either it's too late for their careers, or they think it is. They have kids hitting adulthood that make them feel like they've failed as parents. It can really suck.

Re: Learning to code at 56

#143

Post by JKCalhoun »

beachstartup wrote: post #77
blubb-fish wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Life as an adult is fundamentally and naturally about responsebilites and obligations - and most men no longer are able to cope with those because they bought into the illusion of life long youth - aka Peter Pan syndrome.

no, i think you have it backwards. the men who are 50 something right now dove headlong into family+salary+mortgage at an early age, possibly against their true desires, and many of them are feeling the negative effects of that. peter pan syndrome means you never actually did anything with your life (positive or negative), not that you've been beaten down by it. how can you be beaten down by nothing?

I'm 52 — dove into family+salary+mortgage around the age of 30. I have no regrets at all. Kids are awesome, a wife is awesome, home equity is awesome.

Re: Learning to code at 56

#144

Post by godshatter »

chadrs wrote: post #137

My father (63, I think?) is starting to learn to code. I chose a decent beginner book for him (Python) and spent some time trying to figure out IDE situation would work best. But the places he stumbled were a total surprise to me. He's never learned to type, imagine coding with hunt-and-peck. Characters like ()[]. he had no idea where to find. He didn't have much understanding of file systems; so things like saving a…

I always find it strange when programmers where I work copy+paste everything they can to avoid typing. If you program for a living, typing is your bread and butter. The better you are at it, the more you can get done and the faster your thoughts get dumped to the source file before you forget what the hell you started typing in the first place :)

I envy your father. It will be fun watching him have "a-ha" moments as the pieces start to fit together.

Re: Learning to code at 56

#145

Post by stcredzero »

ytNumbers wrote: post #105
tps5 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At 24, I've noticed there are really two kinds of people in the world: those who think there are two kinds of people in the world and those that don't.

There is only one thing in the world worse than being witty, and that is not being witty. I wish I hadn't said that.

No, there is hipster irony. (Try this on at varying meta-levels.)

Re: Learning to code at 56

#146

Post by cowardlydragon »

beat wrote: post #39

At 51, I've noticed there are really two kinds of people at my age... people who are completely beaten, and people who are winning. Once you hit 40 or so, the scope of mortality really hits you. You realize that you've probably already had half your productive life, maybe half a career. You start seeing peers die of "old age" - heart attacks and strokes and stuff. For most, they're beaten, defeated. They decide this…

Yes they are hard at work:

- destroy the housing market... check - ruin higher education... check - destroy democracy ... check - bankrupt social security and medicare... in progress, but basically a foregone conclusion - destroy all jobs for the current generation ... check

Re: Learning to code at 56

#147

Post by adamredwoods »

beat wrote: post #48
adam12 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's more complicated than that. I often feel beaten and defeated. That doesn't stop me from being a life long learner. I'm sure there are people who are perfectly content with their lives and they just don't feel the need to learn new things.

Well, sure, it's an oversimplification. But I think it's a pretty valid one. It's not just about learning new things (you don't even need to learn to be on the winning side - I know artists who are driven to create , who have already refined their technique and are focused on creativity now).

Let's try not to oversimplify other people's problems. The "beaten and defeated" could be dealing with issues we know nothing about.

Re: Learning to code at 56

#148

Post by teddyh »

Brockenstein wrote: post #81
pier25 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Well 37 isn't really that old. The difference between you and a 20 year old might be measurable, but negligible, when it comes to pure learning. IE you're both learning a task, subject, skill neither of you has knowledge or experience about. Clearly experience and knowledge has great value, and coupled with any normal sort of learning ability is a solid combination that is superior to increased learning alone. After…

> Well 37 isn't really that old.

— Well, I can’t just call you “man”.

(Sorry.)

Re: Learning to code at 56

#149

Post by justavoice »

cowardlydragon wrote: post #146
beat wrote: post #39

At 51, I've noticed there are really two kinds of people at my age... people who are completely beaten, and people who are winning. Once you hit 40 or so, the scope of mortality really hits you. You realize that you've probably already had half your productive life, maybe half a career. You start seeing peers die of "old age" - heart attacks and strokes and stuff. For most, they're beaten, defeated. They decide this…

Yes they are hard at work: - destroy the housing market... check - ruin higher education... check - destroy democracy ... check - bankrupt social security and medicare... in progress, but basically a foregone conclusion - destroy all jobs for the current generation ... check

wow, you see nothing good in the prior generation? Must be a dark place you live in

Re: Learning to code at 56

#150

Post by cookiecaper »

melling wrote: post #68
kordless wrote: post #65

I submitted this yesterday around Noon and got 3 votes. Today, here it is in another submission. Take a look at the URL. HN apparently uses the entire URL, including hashes, which means this is considered a separate submission. Interesting.

HN is a hit or miss. If you don't get upvoted quickly, you'll get missed. Several weeks ago, 3 of 4 stories that i submitted within two days were completely passed over, only to be resubmitted by other people, which ended up on the front page. One story was even #1 for several hours.

Yes, on HN and reddit properly timing submissions is critical to visibility.
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