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Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

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Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#81

Post by cgh »

fnordpiglet wrote: post #19
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…

This is what is me as I head into my 50’s. I always knew it was BS, but now I can’t ignore it any more. Corporate culture garbage drives me absolutely to depression now, and I can’t force myself to care any more. I love teaching and mentoring and leading and programming and all those skills. But I can’t muster up to energy to give a crap about anything other than the work itself, the team, the product, etc. I more cl…

I quit my job at a Silicon Valley BigCorp two years ago, almost to the day, for these very reasons. Luckily, we are in a position where I could just do what I wanted during this time, mainly go rockclimbing and help my wife in our worryingly enormous garden. But I miss certain things, like being in the room (whether physically or virtually) with a bunch of smart people and solving problems. And of course I miss the money. But I'm just not sure I can take the BS anymore.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#82

Post by [deleted] »

shrimp_emoji wrote: post #78
melenaboija wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What you really just lose is patience for BS :) 41 here and I agree with most of the comments from the elder. One thing though I think we older people have to acknowledge is that we might have changed the BS bar. It feels a bit to me like saying that there is no music like the one from 20 years ago. I am trying to be positive and that is something I say to myself :)

I'm 5 years old and I think Tchaikovsky is better than music today

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#83

Post by kokanee »

JohnFen wrote: post #29

I'm an older (than you!) developer, but I have no special resources related to that. But for what it's worth, here's my experience. I've found that nothing is really much different being an older developer compared to being a younger one, aside from two things: I have a lower tolerance for bullshit, and I have a much better handle on what my time is actually worth to employers. While ageism is certainly a thing that…

I'm in my mid-30s and facing the reality that I do not want to be a manager, but have a hard time picturing myself coding into my 60s. I'd be curious to hear more about what in your eyes separates "certain parts of our industry" that aren't suitable for older devs from those that offer good jobs which pay what you're worth. What kind of attributes would you look for in a company or product if you were searching for a job right now?

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#84

Post by wing-_-nuts »

lowercased wrote: post #56
calderwoodra wrote: post #50

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?

Larger monitors? I worked off a laptop for 15 years. I was a lot more mobile, and the laptop was my primary display. 2020, with travel stopped, I got a desktop and couple of large monitors (32"). I still don't feel terribly more 'productive' with multiple monitors (years of experience on single monitor only!) but the large monitors help a lot. Separately, since I primarily work on a desktop, it's harder to just 'work…

I'm looking to get a 32" 4k monitor as my external monitor. What sort of scaling do you use? I hear most folks go with 150% but that puts one right back at 1440p real estate.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#85

Post by latchkey »

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 just turned 50 in October

I'm turning 50 this month and a professional developer since I was about 21-22.

> I think the lack of TDD being as widely adopted

Hilariously, I just got -4'd (and a whole thread) for asking why someone didn't just write tests, instead of building some half baked tool to debug their websocket app. The responses were all sorts of absurd excuses. I'll happily take the negative karma, cause I know it brings some awareness.

(Now I'm getting downvoted again. Oh hn, you crack me up.)

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#86

Post by wing-_-nuts »

bxparks wrote: post #28
dboreham wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same web pages but with ctl-+ pressed a couple times?

Ha, 125% for most things, except HN where I need to use 170%

I have a 13" laptop with a 1080p display, which is actually a higher dpi than a 27" 4k display. I have to run at least 150% zoom to be able to see anything. Too bad fractional scaling sucks on linux.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#87

Post by tpoacher »

reactordev wrote: post #79
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…

You lose 10% of your ability to react and think quickly, not your ability to think. In fact, the older you get the more deep your thinking becomes. This is probably what you see when you think “John is slow to respond at times” (John being the older, 40+ developer). The reality is John remembers the last time someone suggested using MongoDB as a caching store and how well that worked out. John is recalling all those…

You reminded me of that "I'm fast at math" joke :)

The joke, for those who don't know:

Interviewer: What would you say is your most impressive skill?

Candidate: I am ridiculously fast at math.

Impressed, the interviewer wants to test this: "Ok then, quick, what's 347+578?"

Candidate (confidently): "5!"

Interviewer: "w ... what? That's not correct! That wasn't even close!"

Candidate: "Yes, but it was ridiculously fast!"

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#88

Post by [deleted] »

shrimp_emoji wrote: post #78
melenaboija wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What you really just lose is patience for BS :) 41 here and I agree with most of the comments from the elder. One thing though I think we older people have to acknowledge is that we might have changed the BS bar. It feels a bit to me like saying that there is no music like the one from 20 years ago. I am trying to be positive and that is something I say to myself :)

I'm 5 years old and I think Tchaikovsky is better than music today

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#89

Post by wing-_-nuts »

Dowwie wrote: post #45
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.

I limit my alcohol consumption to the weekend and don't drink at night.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#90

Post by Dowwie »

sanitycheck wrote: post #61
Dowwie wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Nor me, but five will do the trick. (HTH, WFM, YMMV)

I guess I just haven't been trying hard enough.
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