What they say about age is true
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What they say about age is true
1–10 of 79 posts
Re: What they say about age is true
#2I agree, many people undervalue other's experience.
I think its a treasure trove of information as to what worked and what didn't work, especially if one can cross apply those lessons across knowledge domains/areas of technology.
Re: What they say about age is true
#3"Facing facts, I've been sidelined in tech for quite a number of years. No one offers me a place in new startups. When I was younger things were a lot different."
In a previous discussion I mentioned my first (and last) extremely unpleasant interaction with Dave Winer and someone mentioned I was a member of a large club (http://diveintomark.org/archives/2003/04/21/whats_your_winer...). That might have more than a little to do with his inability to get offers in new startups.
I'll also note that anyone who says there's no difference between C and an OO language doesn't know what he's talking about. Or in this case C and a language that's largely Scheme semantics with a C style face. And then there's compilation vs. interpretation. Feh.
But the OO part is a big deal (at least to the extent it is used by BrowserScript). Learning a new language is generally fast. Learning a new paradigm like OO or functional programming is generally not.
Re: What they say about age is true
#4" Facing facts, I've been sidelined in tech for quite a number of years. No one offers me a place in new startups. When I was younger things were a lot different. " In a previous discussion I mentioned my first (and last) extremely unpleasant interaction with Dave Winer and someone mentioned I was a member of a large club ( http://diveintomark.org/archives/2003/04/21/whats_your_winer... ). That might have more than a…
Sure, C is a language in which virtually everything is expressed using fixed-width integers, in which developers must choose and remember which region of memory every variable resides in, in which object lifetimes are of crucial import but left entirely to the devices of the programmer, and in which the programmer is addressing the hardware nearly directly, instead of an interpreter. And sure, Javascript is none of those things. But: both of them require semicolons at the ends of statements!
Oh, wait.
Re: What they say about age is true
#5Ironically while arguing one side of the case he becomes an example supporting the other. He sounds so grumpy and closed minded. Who'd want to hire him?
His thesis that technology hasn't changed is false in any case. E.g. while the fundamentals of algorithms haven't changed, that sort of knowledge is less central than it used to be; for better or worse, software development seems to be evolving into something where you glue together building blocks made by other people rather than writing everything yourself.
Re: What they say about age is true
#6I think he isn't offered opportunities in other people's startups because he doesn't seek them out. Does he expect the world to come banging down his door because he was an early blogger and blogging tool developer? Other early bloggers went on to command much greater audiences.
Who in their right mind thinks JavaScript is a "gratuitous reinvention" of C? They're more different than they are alike.
Maybe he should learn how to build LAMP server farms if he wants to work in startups doing them. There's no reason he can't start his own and work with people who aren't ageists.
Re: What they say about age is true
#7I immediately thought "no hire" after reading the author's comment about Javascript and C. The rest of the paragraph strengthened my opinion. Age is not the issue here.
Re: What they say about age is true
#8Ironically while arguing one side of the case he becomes an example supporting the other. He sounds so grumpy and closed minded. Who'd want to hire him? His thesis that technology hasn't changed is false in any case. E.g. while the fundamentals of algorithms haven't changed, that sort of knowledge is less central than it used to be; for better or worse, software development seems to be evolving into something where y…
Could we use this to make a new heuristic for knowing when one is being closed-minded? You're good at coming up with those sorts of things.
The "X is exactly the same as Y" is one, I think. I got in an argument with someone who asserted that Twitter was exactly the same as the old Unix utility 'talk'. Of course, how do you distinguish between obviously boring reinventions and stuff that really will have an impact?
Re: What they say about age is true
#9Ironically while arguing one side of the case he becomes an example supporting the other. He sounds so grumpy and closed minded. Who'd want to hire him? His thesis that technology hasn't changed is false in any case. E.g. while the fundamentals of algorithms haven't changed, that sort of knowledge is less central than it used to be; for better or worse, software development seems to be evolving into something where y…
Well, Dave Winer brings his own personal baggage that's not related to general ageism. But maybe other experienced people just need some help presenting their knowledge in a way that's easier for young people to take. It's really easy to come off as grumpy and entitled otherwise.
Re: What they say about age is true
#10" Facing facts, I've been sidelined in tech for quite a number of years. No one offers me a place in new startups. When I was younger things were a lot different. " In a previous discussion I mentioned my first (and last) extremely unpleasant interaction with Dave Winer and someone mentioned I was a member of a large club ( http://diveintomark.org/archives/2003/04/21/whats_your_winer... ). That might have more than a…
Sure, C is a language in which virtually everything is expressed using fixed-width integers, in which developers must choose and remember which region of memory every variable resides in, in which object lifetimes are of crucial import but left entirely to the devices of the programmer, and in which the programmer is addressing the hardware nearly directly, instead of an interpreter. And sure, Javascript is none of t…
Also, curly braces!