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35 Over 35

theamericanscholar.org

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Re: 35 Over 35

#31

Post by josephdviviano »

whytaka wrote: post #25
josephdviviano wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't do any of this intentionally. I studied psychology in undergrad and graduated the year of the great financial crisis. Also had a bad GPA, 3.0. I had lots of ideas but there was always a big skills gap between what I wanted to do and what I knew how to do (and what my degree said I could do). I am obsessed with fixing problems in medical decision making (back then it was specific to diagnosis, now I'm more ge…

Oh god, I was hoping you'd say 42 or something. I'm 32 myself and you gave me some relief from my sense of urgency until you mentioned your age. Great to see you being an ace though! I hope you keep moving forward.

Thank you! I shouldn't have put a number on it... the real story is that all that happened over 10 years. I really don't think it has to do anything with age, just consistent effort over time. I was being constantly told that I didn't have what it takes to be in any technical field when I finished university.

Re: 35 Over 35

#32

Post by BigJono »

freyr wrote: post #16
automathematics wrote: post #2

Love this. People like to think they can't do anything as they get older. That mental state will be a self fulfilling prophecy!

Do people really think this way, besides young people and tech managers? I'm over 35 and my productivity and capacity to learn new things has only continued to grow over time. It's true that many exceptional artifacts have been produced by people when they're relatively young. I think this is more a byproduct of ignorance (i.e., seeing the world with a fresh pair of eyes). But as this list shows, maybe age isn't the…

I think maybe it's possible that given a very smart programmer with 1-5 years experience, the value of not having had time to learn the wrong way of doing things far outweighs the value of another 10 or 20 years experience. A lot of our 'best practices' seem curiously tailored toward keeping mediocre developers in check and producing consistent rather than extraordinary results.

Maybe our industry just grinds the greatness out of you by 25 or 30 unless you actively fight it.

Re: 35 Over 35

#33

Post by p1esk »

yumraj wrote: post #29
p1esk wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you a domain expert in that space? How did you come up with the idea?

Not domain expert. Personal experience, research, observations of the market dynamics, conversations with others who shared the pain led to identification of the problem space and corresponding hypothesis. Borrowed elements of proposed solution from adjacent spaces. Currently in pre-seed stage, so still a lot of work to do.

I’m graduating with a phd in deep learning in 3 months, trying to decide whether to join FAANG or do my own thing. What is the most valuable lesson you learned from your failures?

Re: 35 Over 35

#34

Post by mrmonkeyman »

yumraj wrote: post #15
p1esk wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you working on? :)

Little too early to disclose the details, but it's in the eCommerce content marketing space currently dominated by the likes of BazaarVoice, PowerReviews ... >$5B TAM (for overall marketing automation space) and a CAGR of 15-20%.

eCommerce content marketing. What an incredible heartbreakingly depressing topic to focus your life's precious little energy on. But whatever floats your boat and I wish you good luck of course.

Re: 35 Over 35

#35

Post by yumraj »

yumraj wrote: post #29
p1esk wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you a domain expert in that space? How did you come up with the idea?

Not domain expert. Personal experience, research, observations of the market dynamics, conversations with others who shared the pain led to identification of the problem space and corresponding hypothesis. Borrowed elements of proposed solution from adjacent spaces. Currently in pre-seed stage, so still a lot of work to do.

@p1esk replying to your question as reply to my own comment as for some reason I'm not seeing the "reply" link below your comment.

Unfortunately all failures have their own nuances. In some cases it was the issue with market dynamics, in others I think the idea itself was not good enough. I think we always underestimate the inertia of a market, healthcare and anything to do with government are prime examples of that. Of course I'm sure I also lack something but I try to make it up with tenacity. Disclosure, some of the attempts were side projects while I was willing to full time, which, while financially better, had its own issues.

Regarding your situation, I'll say take a look at two things, your financial situation and what idea you have.

Not sure if that's what you're looking for but I'd be happy to shoot you an email to chat offline.

Re: 35 Over 35

#36

Post by AQuantized »

BigJono wrote: post #32
freyr wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do people really think this way, besides young people and tech managers? I'm over 35 and my productivity and capacity to learn new things has only continued to grow over time. It's true that many exceptional artifacts have been produced by people when they're relatively young. I think this is more a byproduct of ignorance (i.e., seeing the world with a fresh pair of eyes). But as this list shows, maybe age isn't the…

I think maybe it's possible that given a very smart programmer with 1-5 years experience, the value of not having had time to learn the wrong way of doing things far outweighs the value of another 10 or 20 years experience. A lot of our 'best practices' seem curiously tailored toward keeping mediocre developers in check and producing consistent rather than extraordinary results. Maybe our industry just grinds the gre…

What do you think is an example of such a "best practice"?

Re: 35 Over 35

#37

Post by p1esk »

yumraj wrote: post #35
yumraj wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not domain expert. Personal experience, research, observations of the market dynamics, conversations with others who shared the pain led to identification of the problem space and corresponding hypothesis. Borrowed elements of proposed solution from adjacent spaces. Currently in pre-seed stage, so still a lot of work to do.

@p1esk replying to your question as reply to my own comment as for some reason I'm not seeing the "reply" link below your comment. Unfortunately all failures have their own nuances. In some cases it was the issue with market dynamics, in others I think the idea itself was not good enough. I think we always underestimate the inertia of a market, healthcare and anything to do with government are prime examples of that.…

Thanks. Unfortunately I don’t have any good ideas at the moment. And what’s even worse I don’t see anyone around me I could partner up with.

Re: 35 Over 35

#38

Post by angarg12 »

wenbin wrote: post #4

reminds me of this quora question and excellent answers What do people in Silicon Valley plan to do once they are over 35 since most will neither make it big nor move up the management chain of command? https://www.quora.com/What-do-people-in-Silicon-Valley-plan-...

This is something I'm battling with right now. As I get older, it's more common to see people younger than me being more successful. When you are starting your career, you only see all the possibilities to fulfill your goals. As you age and don't get quite there, you start to question if you are good enough, and wonder if you'll ever reach your goals, or should just give up.

It takes a lot of discipline to keep the right state of mind.

Re: 35 Over 35

#39

Post by baroffoos »

freyr wrote: post #16
automathematics wrote: post #2

Love this. People like to think they can't do anything as they get older. That mental state will be a self fulfilling prophecy!

Do people really think this way, besides young people and tech managers? I'm over 35 and my productivity and capacity to learn new things has only continued to grow over time. It's true that many exceptional artifacts have been produced by people when they're relatively young. I think this is more a byproduct of ignorance (i.e., seeing the world with a fresh pair of eyes). But as this list shows, maybe age isn't the…

There are a lot of brilliant programs or games that were created by people with little programming experience. While the code may be of bad quality, the idea is so good that it becomes very successful.

Re: 35 Over 35

#40

Post by baroffoos »

ekianjo wrote: post #20
webwielder2 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a pretty dumb thing to say given all the excellent books written by younger people.

Outliers. Most of the books written by younger people who have no experience in life will sound immature to anyone above their age.

How many of those great books written by over 40yo authors had never written books before that age allowing them to develop their writing skills?
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