A professor at college can work late into his/her 70s or 80s.
so should be software engineers.
This is truly inspirational, I also plan to keep coding well into 70s/80s, just loving it, or as long as I can.
Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?
281–290 of 555 posts
Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?
#282I am 80 years old and still working full time in IT. Although I evolved from pure programming to project management and business analysis the past few years. Originally started out working at Cape Canaveral as a radar and telemetry engineer and moved into programming after I left there. Whenever I interview, I completely ignore the age issue. If the interviewer is to dumb to recognize the value of my knowledge and ex…
How do you find your brain works and how productive you are compared to say 20 years ago? My father is in his late 70s and gets quite tired during his day - I wonder if you keep working it keeps the brain more active. Also it must be weird going to a retirement party for someone who is 15 years younger than you :D
Not OP and not in their age group but I would say it comes down to either genetics, lifestyle choices or combination of both.
I made a bunch of lifestyle choices (lost weight, keto diet, being more active, less screen time at night, etc). As a result I've noticed a significant increase in energy levels and mental clarity.
Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?
#283Congratulations on the longevity. Here's to the next 57 years!
Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?
#284I was thrilled to see Walter Bright (@WalterBright) on here a few days ago! I don't think he's been working for 57 years but he certainly has a few stories to tell. 57 years is an amazing innings in such a relentless field - congratulations, and long may you continue.
I've seen him quite active, providing his thoughts on e.g. language designs and relating them to his choices for D.
Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?
#285Thank you, this is a wonderful post! Please share more of your story. (Write a book, please). I would love to hear answers to the following: 1. What ideas proved useful throughout your career, and what ideas did you change your mind about? 2. What are your hobbies? Do you still program in your spare time - if so, what? Or do you find other outlets? 3. What went into the decision to go back to school? Did you get the…
Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?
#286Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am sorry, but you are not a programmer anymore. You are a project manager or a business analyst. The reason you are able to completely ignore the age issue is because there's no ageism in hiring business analysts and project managers. The ageism is visible in hiring programmers, which most certainly you are not. You might "dabble" in code outside of work in your own spare time, but that doesn't make you a professio…
"I am sorry, but you are not a programmer anymore" Your gatekeeping is not welcome here. This isn't a competition. "The reason you are able to completely ignore the age issue is because there's no ageism in hiring business analysts and project managers. The ageism is visible in hiring programmers, which most certainly you are not." and your unfounded conclusions aren't welcome either.
Don't really have a stake in this either way, but presumably to determine the "longest-serving programmer", it is a bit of a competition, no?
Definitely the comment was mean-spirited, but the core - which is that if we are trying to determine longest programmer, this is likely not a contender - seems to be true?
Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?
#287Thank you, this is a wonderful post! Please share more of your story. (Write a book, please). I would love to hear answers to the following: 1. What ideas proved useful throughout your career, and what ideas did you change your mind about? 2. What are your hobbies? Do you still program in your spare time - if so, what? Or do you find other outlets? 3. What went into the decision to go back to school? Did you get the…
That's a lot of questions, but let me take a couple. I got my Master's degrees in the early 1970's, when we used something called a "slide rule". In 1990 I went back to school to update my skills and expand my knowledge into artificial intelligence, which I had become enamored with. Unfortunately, I didn't finish my PhD (big mistake!) because in 1995 I jumped on an opportunity to join a company that had this amazing software that enabled very advanced analytics on big data (except it wasn't called "big data" back then). The software was called HOPS (for Heuristic Optimized Processing System) and I still use it today to develop custom machine learning applications among other things. I went back to school again in 2016 to fill in some gaps so would qualify as a real "data scientist" - the latest craze. I will say that HOPS was and is the biggest idea in software that hasn't worked out - at least not commercially. It's a system that is great for data scientists working on big data and enables them to do their own programming with minimal effort. I'm still hoping HOPS will take it's deserved place in the world of software development. It will be a great loss if it doesn't! It's one reason I'm holding on - to prove the exceptional things that it enables and prevent it from being tossed into the trash bin of history.
Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?
#288Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do you find your brain works and how productive you are compared to say 20 years ago? My father is in his late 70s and gets quite tired during his day - I wonder if you keep working it keeps the brain more active. Also it must be weird going to a retirement party for someone who is 15 years younger than you :D
Not OP and not in their age group but I would say it comes down to either genetics, lifestyle choices or combination of both. I made a bunch of lifestyle choices (lost weight, keto diet, being more active, less screen time at night, etc). As a result I've noticed a significant increase in energy levels and mental clarity.
Not to be rude but:
> Not OP and not in their age group
Then why are you answering?
Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?
#289I salute you and all of the others who are still going strong.
Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?
#290In my company, we can get "Senior Developer" title after 3 to 4 year experience. What your current title?
My current title is Director of Analytics Innovation. But I am an individual contributor - I don't have anyone reporting to me.