41–50 of 534 posts
1. You're getting old. Start writing everything down on paper. 2. Some people decline mentally faster then others, sometimes in their 40-50. Don't freak out, but do pay attention, ask others you know to pay attention to you. 3. Take it one layer at a time, and again, write everything down, best on paper. And keep smiling when it is hard.
WTF, AM I ALREADY DEAD AT 42?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thank you. Good advice about hacking on some personal projects/experiments. I'm worried that wont rebuild my confidence and abilities fast enough though. I want to make progress on this task today, not next week. Other developers seem to be succeeding, and I'm worried about how I'll look if it takes me weeks do to what others are doing in hours. (This isn't meant to dismiss your advice, to but to give feedback and so…
In addition to the GP, I'll add there's a certain level of naïveté of being young that makes one feel like they were better than they were. I'm mid-40s and am probably the best I've ever been at writing good code, but sometimes I can get vapor locked knowing all the things I need to account to for. When I was younger I just coded because I didn't know any better. So when I get stuck now, I just start writing code lik…
TBH I thought all those ads for brain training were a load of BS, but I recently finished reading The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge, it's an older-ish book at this point but there was a lot of info in there about how the brain works that I didn't know. Neuroscientist Michael Merzenich's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Merzenich work pioneering brain plasticity with cochlear implants and expanding that research into autism is highlighted at the beginning of the book and it's pretty damn interesting.
BrainHQ was started by Merzenich, and it's cheap. Figured why not give it a shot?
I've experienced this periodically since my early 20's - generally in hindsight I realise it was: real life getting in the way, burnout, lack of interest (I was interested in the idea, but on some fundamental level - not the activity) - also occasionally just a feeling of Groundhog Day (ie. Some code tasks can just feel a little too familiar - even if novel, and that saps my joy) Either way, at the time it was quite…
Thank you. Good advice about hacking on some personal projects/experiments. I'm worried that wont rebuild my confidence and abilities fast enough though. I want to make progress on this task today, not next week. Other developers seem to be succeeding, and I'm worried about how I'll look if it takes me weeks do to what others are doing in hours. (This isn't meant to dismiss your advice, to but to give feedback and so…
Some days you just feel down and are barely able to function, others you have seemingly unlimited energy, and this can come from a whole host of factors : how did you sleep, what did you eat, what is the weather, how is your personal life going...
And of course things get worse as you age (with quite a lot of variation and personal responsibility in staying healthy).
I've experienced this periodically since my early 20's - generally in hindsight I realise it was: real life getting in the way, burnout, lack of interest (I was interested in the idea, but on some fundamental level - not the activity) - also occasionally just a feeling of Groundhog Day (ie. Some code tasks can just feel a little too familiar - even if novel, and that saps my joy) Either way, at the time it was quite…
Thank you. Good advice about hacking on some personal projects/experiments. I'm worried that wont rebuild my confidence and abilities fast enough though. I want to make progress on this task today, not next week. Other developers seem to be succeeding, and I'm worried about how I'll look if it takes me weeks do to what others are doing in hours. (This isn't meant to dismiss your advice, to but to give feedback and so…
I’ve experienced this a bunch of times too. I’m sorry to say this, but burnout for me never goes away on a convenient schedule. The more I make myself wrong for feeling overwhelmed, distracted and unmotivated, the worse it gets. Or in other terms, problems are rarely solved with the same thinking that created them.
For me, I have to really give myself permission to step back, take stock of myself, get some sleep and good food and often take a break from “work” programming tasks for a few weeks. (And I know exactly how inconvenient that last part is).
The more I push myself to feel better already, the longer it takes.
Today it'd take me much longer, and the end result would be better. This is experience, because I know many of the ways in which a port could go sideways. The way I deal with massive bodies of work would be to handle it in well tested small pieces. If you're having difficulty figuring out how to arrive at these small pieces, then that's the challenge right there. You'll get good at it by working towards it.
I know that, despite my age (44), its not cognitive decline. It's experience and the end result of my work is simply better.
At age 40, there are a lot of responsibilities, and taking care of yourself and your health can get pushed to the side.
Take time to eat healthy and get exercise. It is amazing how much a healthy, fit body invigorates the mind.
When I cut glutenous foods from my diet, mental clarity was restored.
NOT saying "gluten-free" is the correct answer. Just saying there could be underlying issues with a symptom of brain fog.
It's not age, I was more capable when I retired in 2021 than I was in the 1980s because I found ways to give my brain enough time away (sometimes getting laid off forces you!) and also switching to completely unrelated programming jobs to provide a new perspective. I never completely burned out by giving my brain something new to focus on.