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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.

#361

Post by Starwatcher2001 »

denton-scratch wrote: post #259
Starwatcher2001 wrote: post #195

I know the feeling. I'm 62 and I can't go as long or as deep as I once could, but I've changed my strategy over the years and although I'm not as fast as I once was I'm still pretty productive. What I do is log virtually everything I'm doing in an editor window that I keep open all the time (one file per project/task). If I get disturbed by a call or a colleague, I can do a quick recap and get back to where I was. Li…

I got severely dinged for saying in a standup that I had forgotten what I was doing the previous day. So I bought an A4 hardback notebook, and started logging everything I did. I wish I had been doing that since I started in this business; it's a really good work habit.

I tried paper and log books for a long time (I've got half a filing cabinets worth), but no matter what system I used I couldn't always find what I wanted. (When did I last modify routine xyz, and why?).

Moving to flat ascii files meant it's searchable and has longevity as it doesn't need any specific tool or app. I can also carry the lot around with me - very useful on site.

Cheers.

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

#362

Post by danielrpa »

As I get very close to 50, I actually feel smarter. Reasoning on hard things come easier. I can approach problems I found too hard in the past, sometimes even being embarrassed of my previous dumber self.

I'm in good health but I do have less energy, like a higher horsepower engine with a smaller tank. I don't have a problem with the tradeoff...

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

#363

Post by MattSayar »

dr_dshiv wrote: post #208
FPGAhacker wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve had a very successful similar experience with regard to excercise.

Hmm. Do you think we will ever get a pill to replace exercise?

I like the joke "If exercise were a pill, every doctor would prescribe to everyone."

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

#364

Post by issa »

boringg wrote: post #331
mythhouse wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had unlimited energy till about 40 and then I hit some sort of cliff. This coincided with covid and being indoors using high velocity media like reddit/insta. I am not sure how much is age and how much is habits that caused this.

Recent studies suggest that counter to popular belief our metabolism doesn't change from age 20 to age 60. There are individual factors that can certainly account for your change of energy and I would certainly look for culprits. I recently did a big change in myself - adjusted sleep, took specific supplements which I was suspect was deficient in and have found my energy to be much fuller. Do not ignore what your bod…

Our metabolism doesn't change in the technical sense, but in the popular sense of the word "metabolism" people absolutely slow down. At 20, missing a night's sleep wasn't even that big a deal. At 50 it is essentially impossible. I don't know what the underlying mechanisms are, but that's what people mean when they (incorrectly, it seems) say "metabolism".

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

#365

Post by jjtheblunt »

jb1991 wrote: post #17

I don't know you personally but I doubt cognitive decline has anything to do with this. As we age, we usually end up with more and more life responsibilities, beyond just the work we are doing. All of that is input to the brain and requires energy in response. The brain is not infinite. I often feel as you do, but then I have periods where I am as light and agile in my productivity as 20 years ago, maybe even more so…

i think that's perfectly said, and i'm 55.

in short, that assignment sounds de-motivating, so you're predisposed to notice momentum is hard to establish.

and getting coherent blocks of time, to get in a flow as they say, is the challenge that hits me all the time, and which i didn't have when going to an office 20-35 years earlier (including in college i mean).

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

#367

Post by anonyfox »

I noticed a stronger urge to not waste my time by reading bullshit. It got much worse now that I am closer to 40.

For pure coding, I am writing simple functions and precise data types only, and actively avoid all the clever abstractions I used to push for in the past. I won’t argue about any styling or naming conventions - configure an on-save linter and done.

And for APIs I‘ll look exclusively at the given spec/schema/whatever - and only grep through legacy implementation code if I suspect edgecase handling there.

It’s not being unable, more like extremely unwilling to immerse in just another messy code pile.

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

#368

Post by AnimalMuppet »

At 50 or a bit after, things begin to shift for me. I couldn't just head down crank out code as well. I couldn't multitask nearly as well. Distractions and interruptions became more of a killer.

But I could "see" better. I could see more clearly what was code that was likely to become problematic. I could see what was architecturally "smelly", and what was a better alternative.

Did that change make me less valuable? Or more? I think more.

So you may be feeling the start of that. Maybe you're becoming more valuable than just cranking out a port. Maybe this is a good task for younger you, but no longer a good task for who you are becoming.

And maybe you can talk to your manager about where you could be more valuable.

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

#369

Post by jghn »

boringg wrote: post #331
mythhouse wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had unlimited energy till about 40 and then I hit some sort of cliff. This coincided with covid and being indoors using high velocity media like reddit/insta. I am not sure how much is age and how much is habits that caused this.

Recent studies suggest that counter to popular belief our metabolism doesn't change from age 20 to age 60. There are individual factors that can certainly account for your change of energy and I would certainly look for culprits. I recently did a big change in myself - adjusted sleep, took specific supplements which I was suspect was deficient in and have found my energy to be much fuller. Do not ignore what your bod…

Out of curiosity how scientific or not of an approach did you take on the supplements. For instance I can't imagine you did double blinds on single supplements but did you start taking a bunch of stuff at once and assess later you felt ok? Tweak one thing at a time? something else?

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

#370

Post by threadweaver34 »

cultofmetatron wrote: post #223

38 here, I've definitely noticed a bit of a decline in overall power a year ago. Have you looked into what you're eating and doing for exercise? You definitely cant power through brainfog with caffeine anymore. try the following to get yourself back on track 1. first meal of the day should be a filet of fatty fish like salmon with skin. if you can't afford this, use a high quality fish oil pill like nordic naturals.…

> 3. cut out all sugar outside of whole unprocessed fruit. (juice doesn't count)

Juice might as well be soda when it comes to sugar.

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