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Ask HN: How old were the most talented software engineers you've met?

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Re: Ask HN: How old were the most talented software engineers you've met?

#81

Post by scrollaway »

spinach wrote: post #70
scrollaway wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same story here. The most talented engineers I know are either in their early 20s or in their late 40s/50s. Of course it's for different reasons. Something many people don't want to admit is that a lot of talent comes from practice and experience, and someone in their 40s is much more likely to have 20+ years of experience than someone in their 20s. The early-20s geniuses I know are talented for different reasons. Th…

That begs the question then, what happens to these early-20s geniuses once they are late 20s/30s?

Well, one of them now works at Facebook, another at Google, another at Amazon. The youngest one is still at a smaller company but I suspect he'll end up finding a job at a Big Five or some such.

To answer your question, they get swallowed. Google etc hoard talent, and those that can fake it. I don't know if that's good, but they definitely end up with resources to produce incredible things. Then again what would they do alone, I wonder.

Re: Ask HN: How old were the most talented software engineers you've met?

#82

Post by meuk »

ndnxhs wrote: post #58
mettamage wrote: post #31

I have a strong bias: the university crowd (haven't seen old programmers yet). One guy who was about 24/25. He came in already experienced in creating extensions for clang and LLVM. He wanted to do a masters in cyber security. I told him to get a job, but we became friends instead. When I wrote my first if-statement for an operating system course, he finished the entire program. It was unreal to see. Funnily enough I…

Why do these people even go to uni when its such a waste of time. I went to uni for a year and learned absolutely nothing because it was all so incredibly basic that its only useful if you don't know how to learn on your own.

If you followed only the first year then yes, you've wasted your time. Things start to get interesting in the years after that.

Re: Ask HN: How old were the most talented software engineers you've met?

#84

Post by Dowwie »

oldmancoyote wrote: post #4

I actually haven't met many being a scientific programmer in a science with little need for programming. So, I guess I'm the most talented. I was at my best in my 40's, but at 72 I'm still very good, but slow.

What science has little need for programming these days?

Re: Ask HN: How old were the most talented software engineers you've met?

#85

Post by lbriner »

beachy wrote: post #55
minipci1321 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Care to tell what makes you slower, compared to your 40-ies? We need to prepare ;-)

Not the OP but to me, as best as I can tell from some self-analyzing, as you get older your brain just doesn't fizz and spark like it did way back when. It works in a different way - more pattern recognition, less raw grunt. Could be because of biochemistry, or maybe just that you don't have the blissful ignorance of youth, you know there are limits, you don't tend to just hurl yourself against the fences quite as re…

I think this might describe what you are referring to: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170206155947.h...

I heard somebody say that as you age, you rely more on memory to infer the correct decision whereas when you are young, memories are few and decisions based either on gut feel or the current context.

I guess that means that older people are more likely to do something they have already done because it is familiar and will work rather than do something that might be newer/better/faster but which would only be deduced by more abstract analysis?

Re: Ask HN: How old were the most talented software engineers you've met?

#86

Post by rotten »

spinach wrote: post #70
scrollaway wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same story here. The most talented engineers I know are either in their early 20s or in their late 40s/50s. Of course it's for different reasons. Something many people don't want to admit is that a lot of talent comes from practice and experience, and someone in their 40s is much more likely to have 20+ years of experience than someone in their 20s. The early-20s geniuses I know are talented for different reasons. Th…

That begs the question then, what happens to these early-20s geniuses once they are late 20s/30s?

Life gets in the way for a while: Kids. Spouse/partner. House. Hobbies. Cynicism. Burnout. Health. Elder care. Then things settle. You work through the life thing, and in your 50's you get a fresh perspective and new energy.

Re: Ask HN: How old were the most talented software engineers you've met?

#87

Post by Intermernet »

First is an early 30s guy who currently works on search and NLP (amongst other things) and has a PhD in mathematics. He optimizes things for fun, and does it with the same flair and ease a musical virtuoso would do variations on chopsticks.

Second is a mostly retired RPG / CL programmer in his 60s who occasionally contracts to IBM i shops and can make that platform sing like a supercomputer on steroids.

Both are inspiring in different ways.

Re: Ask HN: How old were the most talented software engineers you've met?

#89

Post by StavrosK »

One of them is a friend of mine who is around 55 now, maybe 57. He's seen enough shit that he knows how design scalable, maintainable and well-documented software. He wrote this:

https://github.com/SilentCircle/scpf

The other one is around 40, I think, and he's both one of the best business people I've ever met, easily the best manager and best developer as well. I have a suspicion that he never sleeps, as I've never seen him asleep.

Re: Ask HN: How old were the most talented software engineers you've met?

#90

Post by jmcminis »

This is kind of an odd question. It only indicates how old they were when you were lucky enough to meet them. Presumably, that person has been gifted before and would be gifted after as well, not just when they were XX years old.

I would be interested to know the trajectory these engineers had as they aged. Were they average until they got some experience under their belt? Genius from day one, but productivity improved? How did they develop over time and what were the predictors of greatness?

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