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Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.

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Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.

#231

Post by Udo »

I'm almost 50, I don't think this is age related cognitive decline per-se. My guess is that it's motivation-related. As I age, I noticed that my ability to perform what I perceive as needless/unimportant busy work has declined and I find my mind drifting to thoughts like "Why am I doing this? This should be automated. This task would not have been necessary unless someone screwed up." When I was 20 I didn't question whether pulling an allnighter for some absurd arbitrary deadline was justified, but I steer way clear of these kinds of projects and clients now that I'm older.

It may be time for a change. It's probably a programmer's version of a midlife crisis. You notice that your remaining (productive) time is limited and running out quickly. While porting code from one language to another can be fun, I doubt this fun extends to mindlessly porting APIs. Your brain may just be rebelling.

Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.

#233

Post by lallysingh »

qorrect wrote: post #198
LastTrain wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It turns out the same dynamic is at play with songwriting - your standards get higher, what seemed novel when you were 20 now seems boring. I’m sure it is the same across disciplines. The irony is, it kills creativity.

I have not heard this take but it does seem plausible. What to do about it ?

Give yourself credit for working at a higher level of quality.

Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.

#234

Post by LastTrain »

HelloMcFly wrote: post #225
obituary_latte wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it though? I often find it's fun to find new and novel ways to create things that are both clear and efficient. Creative problem solving can be leveraged anytime.

I think the problem is you start saying "no" to more things (literally and metaphorically) before you've even worked the idea or given it a shot. This is purely supposition.

That is the gist of it, yeah. You get discouraged because you can't come up with anything interesting, whereas when you were 20 everything you came up with seemed interesting. I'm just generalizing my own experience of course, and there are more things at play than just this - like I think not yet knowing all the rules has something to do with it. I try to be aware of it, and take some advice I heard once at an artist-in-residence talk: sometimes quantity is better than quality. That is, treat making like sports: practice.

Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.

#235

Post by MuffinFlavored »

WhiteBlueSkies wrote: post #200
MuffinFlavored wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As we age, we usually end up with more and more life responsibilities As somebody who far away from 40, how is one supposed to "look forward" to getting older given this likelihood?

They are first world problems and if you read carefully everyone who has gotten responsibilities chose them and they are very happy for it. It's just the mind's way of coming up with problems when there aren't any.

It just feels like you gradually "give up" a life that was once yours (less responsibilities) and are "slowly forced" into a life that isn't as much yours (get married, buy a house, have children).

Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.

#237

Post by LastTrain »

lallysingh wrote: post #233
qorrect wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have not heard this take but it does seem plausible. What to do about it ?

Give yourself credit for working at a higher level of quality.

Yes. Also, don't think you are too good to fail, we still learn by failing even at 50. I've said some more in another part of the thread.

Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.

#239

Post by eschneider »

As an "old" programmer who's still in the trenches, my secret to working around this problem is to take notes as I work. As you map things out, write it down. As you collect state/call stacks while debugging/tracing, write it down!

It's WAY easier to just consult your notes than to try to remember everything.

Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.

#240

Post by sky_fan »

I am turning 40 this year, I have personally gone through this in the last couple of years. I do manage a fairly large team and still code, there are lot of distractions. Few changes helped me to keep coding, I went away from dual monitor to single monitor when I wanted to code, it helped me from not getting distracted. Setting up focussed time for coding also helped and its usually sitting in library. Putting phone or any notifications on the laptop to Going for a run or exercising before I start coding helped to clear my head and focus on coding.
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