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Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?

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Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?

#301

Post by randcraw »

combatentropy wrote: post #135
dpau wrote: post #18

given the numerous posts about age discrimination on hn, i'm delighted to hear your story and wish you many more years of happy programming. as a whipper-snapper 40-something developer, it gives me hope and motivation.

The industry is backwards. Would you rather have a 25-year-old plumber, architect, photographer, chef, or a 50-year-old one? Artists get better with age. Programming is an art. All tedious tasks get automated away. All that's left are design decisions. Making good design decisions is what people mean by "taste". Taste gets better with experience. A young person may have more physical energy, but to paraphrase Steve J…

I think a large part of the problem is that the software industry still doesn't know how to measure someone's value systematically and reliably. Metrics like LOC/day or bug minimization or speed of project delivery differ widely across problem domains and the technical level of contributor.

Does wisdom count in software? Practically and generally, I'd say no. When setting hiring priorities, cost trumps wisdom in all but the most senior roles.

(BTW, at 62, I've been coding professionally for 34 years. I wish I were valued more by my employers with each passing year. But if it's so, they hide it well.)

Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?

#302

Post by tchaffee »

amelius wrote: post #274
tchaffee wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would work. All those overridden operators are just functions. It wouldn't be as concise or as intuitive though.

Yes, that was the point ;) Both languages are practically Turing complete so they are equivalent if you're just interested in what you can build with them.

Ah ok, by "numpy wouldn't work in JS" you meant something like it wouldn't be popular or as loved. Makes more sense now.

Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?

#303

Post by karmakaze »

genedangelo wrote: post #256
karmakaze wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much exercise, and have you always been physically active? [I'm more than halfway to your experience but definitely missing this aspect.]

About 1 hour in the gym 4 times a week with a mixture of anaerobic and aerobic always setting goals and constraints on my heart rate (using a Polar monitor). At least that is what I was doing until about 2 years ago, when my personal life changed for a number of reasons. Now, I mainly concentrate on walking 3 or 4 miles a day.

Thanks, that seems like a sustainably attainable goal (and to adapt and not overdo it).

Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?

#304

Post by paulcole »

mromanuk wrote: post #300
pxsant wrote: post #212

I 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…

Why are you not yet retired? I can think of few strong reasons, but I would love to hear from you. (I started programming at 8, I’m 41 and I have no plans of stopping )

It’s like in Shawshank. First you can’t stand the bars, then you get used to them, then you can’t live without them.

After 50+ years of structured work people forget how to be in charge of themselves.

Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?

#305

Post by genedangelo »

bitcoinmoney wrote: post #43

Curious what is your salary? Can you share?

I wouldn't mind sharing, but I don't want to take the chance that someone in my company could be reading this. I started in 1963 at $1.55 an hour, which was actually pretty good back then. It's mostly been increasing, except for several years when I was self-employed. Now it's more based on my domain knowledge in healthcare fraud detection than on my seniority and skills as a programmer.

Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?

#306

Post by karaterobot »

pxsant wrote: post #212

I 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…

At what age did you begin your first full-time programming job?

Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?

#307

Post by codegeek »

paulcole wrote: post #304
mromanuk wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you not yet retired? I can think of few strong reasons, but I would love to hear from you. (I started programming at 8, I’m 41 and I have no plans of stopping )

It’s like in Shawshank. First you can’t stand the bars, then you get used to them, then you can’t live without them. After 50+ years of structured work people forget how to be in charge of themselves.

The word is "institutionalized" as Morgan Freeman put it in the movie.

Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?

#308

Post by artsyca »

artsyca wrote: post #192

Sir, when you were first starting out what was the standard dress for coders and how have you seen it evolve over the years?

Was it anything like the NASA engineers putting men into space as we see them now? Proper shirts and neckties?

Re: Ask HN: Am I the longest-serving programmer – 57 years and counting?

#310

Post by modwest »

fortran77 wrote: post #76
JoshuaDavid wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if it's particularly optimistic - if you're (accurately) saying current life expectancy numbers don't take catastrophic risks into account, neither did calculations of life expectancy back then. Unless you think there is a higher risk of catastrophic events now than there was during the cold war.

Life expectancy has plateaued and may be trending down in the U.S. The culprit is likely obesity. (See https://time.com/5100737/obesity-lowering-life-expectancy-un... )

exactamente
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