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35 Over 35

theamericanscholar.org

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Re: 35 Over 35

#111

Post by chenning »

_hardwaregeek wrote: post #110
chenning wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may want to consider looking into academia. Everyone knows the pay isn't as good, but that can be an advantage. Academia loses (or never gets) a lot of talented engineers due to the pay, lack of fancy perks, etc. There actually are perks though. Also, for some, the sense of personal fulfillment depending on the field or project you're working on can be of significant value (just not monetary). There's also the fe…

What kind of academia? Because the traditional PhD -> post-doc -> prof track is absolutely not a good place for work/life balance. Or are you talking about being a programmer for a university?

Yes, I was referring to programmer (or related) for a university.

Re: 35 Over 35

#112

Post by [deleted] »

chenning wrote: post #109
CalRobert wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's the age, it's the other life obligations. In my early 20's I was in college. Graduated in 2008 in to the recession and was lucky to have _any_ job. Spent all of my nights learning coding. In my mid-late 20's, starting in 2011, I finally got a crappy job with a pay cut in tech (sort of) doing ad operations. I worked hard and spent the evenings getting better at Java so I could use the Dart For Publi…

You may want to consider looking into academia. Everyone knows the pay isn't as good, but that can be an advantage. Academia loses (or never gets) a lot of talented engineers due to the pay, lack of fancy perks, etc. There actually are perks though. Also, for some, the sense of personal fulfillment depending on the field or project you're working on can be of significant value (just not monetary). There's also the fe…

[deleted]

Re: 35 Over 35

#113

Post by [deleted] »

tjbiddle wrote: post #58

I don't understand: Is 35 normally considered too old to make something of yourself by society? I'm turning 28 this month and I feel like I'm quite far ahead compared to my peers, yet feel like I'm absolutely still fumbling through life. And when speaking to friends older than me, the majority seem to still be fumbling through as well. Every rotation around the sun my opinion is solidified that we're all just wingin'…

[deleted]

Re: 35 Over 35

#114

Post by azhenley »

_hardwaregeek wrote: post #110
chenning wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may want to consider looking into academia. Everyone knows the pay isn't as good, but that can be an advantage. Academia loses (or never gets) a lot of talented engineers due to the pay, lack of fancy perks, etc. There actually are perks though. Also, for some, the sense of personal fulfillment depending on the field or project you're working on can be of significant value (just not monetary). There's also the fe…

What kind of academia? Because the traditional PhD -> post-doc -> prof track is absolutely not a good place for work/life balance. Or are you talking about being a programmer for a university?

The job market for professors in CS right now is great. No need for a postdoc and only a few pubs will get you multiple offers from R1 univerisities in the US.

(I'm a CS prof.)

Re: 35 Over 35

#115

Post by rikroots »

tjbiddle wrote: post #58

I don't understand: Is 35 normally considered too old to make something of yourself by society? I'm turning 28 this month and I feel like I'm quite far ahead compared to my peers, yet feel like I'm absolutely still fumbling through life. And when speaking to friends older than me, the majority seem to still be fumbling through as well. Every rotation around the sun my opinion is solidified that we're all just wingin'…

> Is 35 normally considered too old to make something of yourself by society?

By Western Society norms, yes. But there's no reason to take notice of what other people around you expect you to be doing at a given age. If you feel the need to learn something new, or branch out in a different direction - do it! Or at least start planning to do it.

I'm currently on my 5th career - some may see that as a failure to commit, irresponsible even. I consider it a welcome challenge - a chance to prove myself (again) and an opportunity to grow while having some fun along the way.

> And when speaking to friends older than me, the majority seem to still be fumbling through as well.

This information is only released to people after they pass their 40th birthday; leaking such information to younger people is strictly forbidden!

Re: 35 Over 35

#116

Post by yters »

r34 wrote: post #107

Ancient Greeks called the life period when one is about 40 "akme". It is a period of greatest mental skills (can't find it on English Wiki, but here is German: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akme ). The "I'm 30, so I'm to old" syndrome is a consequence of very natural social phenomenon - society wants one to be well defined and established, easy to predict.

Yes, Plato didn't think anyone should engage in philosophy, considered the most intellectually demanding pursuit, until at least 40 and having undergone a long holistic education and serving in the military.

Re: 35 Over 35

#117

Post by _hardwaregeek »

azhenley wrote: post #114
_hardwaregeek wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of academia? Because the traditional PhD -> post-doc -> prof track is absolutely not a good place for work/life balance. Or are you talking about being a programmer for a university?

The job market for professors in CS right now is great . No need for a postdoc and only a few pubs will get you multiple offers from R1 univerisities in the US. (I'm a CS prof.)

Wow, that's incredible. I didn't get that impression from the CS PhD students I've met, but I'll take your word for it. But you'd still need a PhD, no? And grad school is definitely not a great place for work/life balance.

Re: 35 Over 35

#118

Post by thorstenn »

Strange nobody mentions the value of domain knowledge. My opinion is that there's little difference between young and old developers, but a difference in their domain knowledge. Valued software developers understand not only software but also their problem domain.

Re: 35 Over 35

#119

Post by azhenley »

_hardwaregeek wrote: post #117
azhenley wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The job market for professors in CS right now is great . No need for a postdoc and only a few pubs will get you multiple offers from R1 univerisities in the US. (I'm a CS prof.)

Wow, that's incredible. I didn't get that impression from the CS PhD students I've met, but I'll take your word for it. But you'd still need a PhD, no? And grad school is definitely not a great place for work/life balance.

Grad school (and tenure-track) isn't considered great for work/life balance, but it seems mostly self-induced. If I had limited myself to 40 hours a week in grad school I think I would have been just as successful.

Anyone I know that wanted a tenure-track position did get one (and had options). I graduated from an unranked department and had a positive experience on the market.

Re: 35 Over 35

#120

Post by erikig »

I like this but I also wish they'd do a "75 over 75" or a "90 over 90" - I think those has more longer term value.
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