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Ask HN: Developers aged 50, how have you gotten around age discrimination?

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Re: Ask HN: Developers aged 50, how have you gotten around age discrimination?

#61

Post by noir_lord »

rubicon33 wrote: post #54
buserror wrote: post #20

I'm 49! I've been working since I'm 17 as a developer -- I think the KEY thing is to be valuable, and be able to change quickly BUT not as quickly as the snowflakes. Ignore the fad tech, get a good, serious, bulletproof base in actual computer science -- I mean, LOW LEVEL stuff--, that will help you learn ANYTHING computer related quickly, and continue surfing that wave with whatever tech you fancy might actually be…

The big money question is: How have you managed to stay passionate about your job? I just posted a comment in another thread about burnout. It's very common in our industry. I believe it's due to the Coolidge Effect. Aka, the brains inherent search for novelty. It's a struggle to not look at almost all programming tasks as just some variation of the same problem, if you've been doing this long enough. How do you keep…

Not as old as op but approaching 40 fairly shortly.

Most programming tasks are a variation of the same problem, you realise it, accept it and then realise that the way to write good software is to get decent at the building bit and then work on getting decent at all the other bits around it.

Requirements gathering (aka talking to people and writing down/recoding what they say), testing (hitting things until bits fall off), reliability (making sure things don't break the same way twice), documentation (making sure the poor sod in after you has more to go on than you inherited).

There is a tonne of variation in what the average dev has to do day to day (unless you are a "Here are the requirements, you can change nothing, implement this spec, never question it" dev - in which case I pity you) so the trick is to keep learning in multiple domains when one gets stale rotate to another, variety is as they say the spice of life.

Re: Ask HN: Developers aged 50, how have you gotten around age discrimination?

#62

Post by avip »

buserror wrote: post #20

I'm 49! I've been working since I'm 17 as a developer -- I think the KEY thing is to be valuable, and be able to change quickly BUT not as quickly as the snowflakes. Ignore the fad tech, get a good, serious, bulletproof base in actual computer science -- I mean, LOW LEVEL stuff--, that will help you learn ANYTHING computer related quickly, and continue surfing that wave with whatever tech you fancy might actually be…

I feel this does not address the question directly. I know passionate, good developers over 50, and they do have hard times on the free market (I can still use 'they' as I'm few years younger). It raises the question - when were you last time actively job hunting?

Re: Ask HN: Developers aged 50, how have you gotten around age discrimination?

#63

Post by rolph »

im older than dirt_

specialty is assembler, firmware and hardware prototyping. I usually work on contract. The thing with high level stuff is that it is always changing face but never goes past the fact that it all boils down to low level operation of digital devices. If you can work at the level that allows high level language to operate then you have real power and controll, but not the convenience of ready made assembler routines, you have to roll your own firmware, and your own assembler macros. If you are a bonafide OS engineer, firmware engineer, and chip engineer, everyone else is riding your coattails, and you have direct knowledge of how a computer or any other sort of object code device functions.

{adde} after skimming through the comments it helps if you already have a code library of your own. You should be equivalent to a tradesperson with a full set of tools appropriate to the job demands. if you are re-writing code to implement a UART for example thats like an electrician constantly manufacturing a screwdriver on the job.

If you can write a piece of code from memory thats good, but proper preparation before hand is a mark of experience.

Re: Ask HN: Developers aged 50, how have you gotten around age discrimination?

#64

Post by buserror »

joshuamcginnis wrote: post #53
buserror wrote: post #20

I'm 49! I've been working since I'm 17 as a developer -- I think the KEY thing is to be valuable, and be able to change quickly BUT not as quickly as the snowflakes. Ignore the fad tech, get a good, serious, bulletproof base in actual computer science -- I mean, LOW LEVEL stuff--, that will help you learn ANYTHING computer related quickly, and continue surfing that wave with whatever tech you fancy might actually be…

> to work with younger guys as a 1:1 basis I wonder if you can expand on this. As I get older, I find myself and my peers confronted with having to answer to younger, often less experienced, stakeholders. What kind of challenges have these presented for you and how have you adapted? What philosophy or attitude should us aging techies adopt as the gap between our peers widens?

Basically the only rule is: NOBODY (that much younger) will ever know how good or experienced you are. They just can't know. It's impossible for them to be in your shoes, but you CAN put yourself fairly easily in THEIR shoes and work from there...

Don't feel underused or misunderstood etc etc even if you blatantly are. You won't be able to change it anyway, just work with what you have, and use your remaining brain cells to do stuff they CAN'T do: for example learning the next big thing quicker than they will...

Ultimately, it's just tech. it comes, it goes... You've likely seem most of it before anyway...

Also, when you DO find the basket case of someone who is interacting with you like an ass and has no clue about your real value, remember that it's THESE GUYS failings that will ultimately keep you employed to make stuff work in the end :-)

Re: Ask HN: Developers aged 50, how have you gotten around age discrimination?

#65

Post by tamuee85 »

I'm 57 and seen plenty of age discrimination, almost exclusively in big companies. Smaller companies don't seem as prone to the practice. Stay current, change as needed. After 35 years of software only, spent the last two years going back to Electrical Engineering roots and developed 3 circuit boards from scratch and developed software for the boards. Large companies that cut solely on age deserve the loss of wisdom and experience.

Re: Ask HN: Developers aged 50, how have you gotten around age discrimination?

#66

Post by ryandrake »

newlikeice wrote: post #2

Side questions if anybody answers this. How did you get your first job industry? I imagine corporation weren’t like there are now and thought of code as black magic.

Late ‘90s, and it was just as hard as today. Applied to dozens of companies as a Senior in undergrad. Similar 1 on 20 response rate as today. I remember the interview—typical “solve this trivial thing in a language of your choice.” Most college kids picked java. I picked x86 assembly and nailed it. In think that impressed someone.

Re: Ask HN: Developers aged 50, how have you gotten around age discrimination?

#68

Post by fermienrico »

buserror wrote: post #20

I'm 49! I've been working since I'm 17 as a developer -- I think the KEY thing is to be valuable, and be able to change quickly BUT not as quickly as the snowflakes. Ignore the fad tech, get a good, serious, bulletproof base in actual computer science -- I mean, LOW LEVEL stuff--, that will help you learn ANYTHING computer related quickly, and continue surfing that wave with whatever tech you fancy might actually be…

Reading your post made me smile. Your writing style reflects your personality - full of positive vibes and tremendous passion. That's all I wanted to say.

Re: Ask HN: Developers aged 50, how have you gotten around age discrimination?

#70

Post by brootstrap »

duderific wrote: post #39
uptownfunk wrote: post #4

There is a technology called hair coloring, stack it with a hoodie and some well fitted slacks, roll up one of the ankle cuffs a bit. Talk like you've exited a startup and are just working for fun, or something to keep you interested, but not like you actually have to.

This seems a bit tongue in cheek, but there is some truth to it. You have to at least be able to seem like someone the 20-somethings can hang out with without feeling awkward. This is less about appearance than attitude. If you are enthusiastic and keep up with the youth culture a bit, you can probably fit in ok. I'm 49 and have gray hair, and have since I was in my mid 30's, but I've not had any trouble getting work…

your name is also duderific so you must be a fantastic duderino to hang out with! Who wouldnt want to work with such a dudeson.
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