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Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

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Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#41

Post by JohnFen »

softwarebeware wrote: post #7
throwaway2037 wrote: post #5

The tech landscape is infinitely wide at this point. Are you looking to up-skill in your current area or a new area? For me, I always look to younger people. They are always the future for a fast moving industry. In particular, I grew up in the era when you bought huge 500 page books to learn about new technology. In large part, that is dead. You can learn most things online, but not as deep. Is it possible to mentor…

There is r/ExperiencedDevs but some people join with a definition of "experienced" as two or three years.

> a definition of "experienced" as two or three years.

Whaa? If you only have two or three years, you're still a newborn baby. :D

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#42

Post by lallysingh »

softwaredoug wrote: post #13

In my 20s I worried about losing my intellectual abilities in my 40s and 50s What you really just lose is patience for BS :) Sure, yeah, you lose 10% of your raw intellect if you stay healthy[1]. You probably more than make up for it in experience and wisdom. But hell the thing that demotivates me is the recycled insanity of large organizations, egotistical tech executives, hype cycles, and all the other BS. Eventual…

The problem is, so much of is BS that it's physically painful to keep up. Look, someone reinvented a basic lisp-ism in their mediocre language! Yes, new buzzwords for each part that was a function parameter to the original system! Yay! Now you can reduce your boilerplate by 10%!

The system is still an unmaintainable ball of mud, but at least your for() loops can now have ridiculously high jitter and concurrency landmines thanks to multicore use on a system bottlenecked by disk IOPs.

Part of you wants to play the curmudgeon and say "I like my old simple ways" instead of yelling "you idiots are spinning wheels on useless APIs instead of learning to do any actual engineering analysis on maintainability or performance." It's tough to balance!

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#43

Post by rlawson »

robopsychology wrote: post #10

Have you considered trying to organize such a group? Set up discord, invite your friends you know, ask them to invite their friends of a similar age, then share it on HN to make it a little more global :)

Well I was hoping to take the easy way out and someone would have done it already. But I'm not averse to setting something up. I'd like an old school forum type thing - but then worry about spam and moderation. Still it is probably worth doing

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#44

Post by JohnFen »

lallysingh wrote: post #42
softwaredoug wrote: post #13

In my 20s I worried about losing my intellectual abilities in my 40s and 50s What you really just lose is patience for BS :) Sure, yeah, you lose 10% of your raw intellect if you stay healthy[1]. You probably more than make up for it in experience and wisdom. But hell the thing that demotivates me is the recycled insanity of large organizations, egotistical tech executives, hype cycles, and all the other BS. Eventual…

The problem is, so much of is BS that it's physically painful to keep up. Look, someone reinvented a basic lisp-ism in their mediocre language! Yes, new buzzwords for each part that was a function parameter to the original system! Yay! Now you can reduce your boilerplate by 10%! The system is still an unmaintainable ball of mud, but at least your for() loops can now have ridiculously high jitter and concurrency landm…

> Part of you wants to play the curmudgeon

Where I currently work, I'm being mentored (even at my age and experience!) by a developer who is in his early 70s. He really is a curmudgeon, but what he actually does is perform. His code is some of the best I've ever seen, and consistently outperforms that of the younger crowd. Then he just points out when he's using an "obsolete" technique to run circles around them.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#45

Post by Dowwie »

sokoloff wrote: post #37

I'm in my 50s. I can't think of any category or dimension of tech resources that would more or less valuable for me in my 50s than they would be if I were in my 30s. Advice on exercise and eating responsibly might be the category (that you probably didn't have in mind) that would be different. Twenty years ago, I could play a softball doubleheader and hit the pub for a dinner of wings and several beers and be fine th…

I took care of my health in my 30s and now that I'm in my 40s can't sleep a full night if I have a single beer. I have no choice but to take care of my health.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#46

Post by rlawson »

superchris wrote: post #35

I just turned 50 in October, and have been coding my entire career plus. I still love and enjoy coding, and feel like I have more to contribute by far than I did early in my career. I have founded a smallish dev studio in Cincinnati (Launch Scout) that I started with a few other developers in 2009. I've tried a few different roles as the company has evolved, but eventually realized that I love coding and helping othe…

I love that name. Not sure if Geek Geezer Guild is local only but if you decide to take it online let me know and I'd be happy to help.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#47

Post by lowercased »

softwarebeware wrote: post #7
throwaway2037 wrote: post #5

The tech landscape is infinitely wide at this point. Are you looking to up-skill in your current area or a new area? For me, I always look to younger people. They are always the future for a fast moving industry. In particular, I grew up in the era when you bought huge 500 page books to learn about new technology. In large part, that is dead. You can learn most things online, but not as deep. Is it possible to mentor…

There is r/ExperiencedDevs but some people join with a definition of "experienced" as two or three years.

Was going to mention that subreddit. A younger friend mentioned it to me. I've got... closing in on 30 years of software dev experience, and he's got... 4? 5? He's applying for 'senior' type positions, and I've tried to counsel him to set sites a bit lower. There are def some companies that will label you senior at 2-3 years of experience, but I don't think he'd do well at those sorts of companies anyway.

I was on a consulting team years back and everyone was 'senior developer' - I had 26 years, another guy had... 4 years. I always thought it was weird to be presenting us to a client as being on the same level, and one client mentioned it to me behind the scenes, but... wasn't my call.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#48

Post by ww520 »

Maybe an online group like a Discord or irc for like minded people to hang out?

Talking with people with similar level of experience and knowledge definitely is amazing. I used to spend time with a few ex-colleagues from time to time. We had amazing discussions since we knew each others’ experience and level of intellect. I went to other meetups and it’s difficult to find people of similar background and experience.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#49

Post by JohnFen »

danesparza wrote: post #14

I'm a developer in my late 40's. Just like a LOT of other developers, I have a stackoverflow profile, a set of (active) personal Github repos, and a presence on LinkedIn. I love clear, to-the-point video instruction. I don't think it's age-specific, but I really like "Tech World with Nana" on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TechWorldwithNana Hacker News (this site) is where I follow industry trends, along with Ars…

> And don't be afraid to pick up hobbies

Oh, so much this. I've always had hobbies, but the older I get, the more value I get from them. They improve my outlook and quality of life generally, but are also of professional value. Even ones that seem unrelated to development (backpacking, etc) make me a better developer by teaching me new ways of thinking, new skills (it's amazing how many unrelated skills turn out to be more related than it seems), and let me unplug my dev brain and exercise the other parts.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#50

Post by calderwoodra »

I'm younger than most of the folks commenting here, but I've noticed very clearly that my eyes aren't nearly as strong as they used to be. I'm wondering how older folks deal with this beyond just wearing glasses.

Additionally, some other things I'd like to learn about: Any subreddits geared for older developers? Any supplements that are great for older engineers/knowledge workers?

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