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Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

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Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#91

Post by Balero »

javcasas wrote: post #27
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…

39 here. I'm significantly better than in my 20s. Much more knowledge and wisdom, a bit less raw brainpower. But I know I can force myself through hard stuff (prolog, category theory, ML research papers) but only if I can kick out instant gratification for a while (reddit, hn, videogames). I remember this week more than 10 years ago where my graphics card died, and had to go with this ancient card with zero accelerat…

How much of this "less raw brainpower" is due to age, and how much is due to potentially having a less focused mind? I have massively noticed issues with my concentration, and I don't think it's due to age, so much as to watching Youtube and reddit.

I guess what I'm getting at is it's sometimes hard to untangle what changes are due to getting older, and which ones are due to the world changing. For me it's boredom, I used to have long boring summers, and get bored on weekends in the 90's and early 2000's. I haven't been bored in years. Is this because of the internet? But I'm not bored when I don't have access to the internet now, so maybe I just enjoy some peace and quiet now I'm older.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#92

Post by poulenet »

rlawson wrote: post #18
dboreham wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Definitely! Also where are my glasses?

Mine are generally found on top of my head, when not in front of my eyes, as I refuse to get bifocals.

We were having a similar discussion on a language compiler group about my excessively off-topic comments. I miss the water cooler and coffee break in person chats from the good old days too. I'm going to bookmark this thread to see if anyone has a solution. I tried creating my own Gitter group, back when you could, but ended up mostly talking to myself, like on dylan-lang/general.

Good luck, I hope you find a good place to chat!

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#93

Post by justinclift »

Did you ever get into doing Flash programming, and think it was good?

If so, then the Ruffle project is probably worth keeping an eye on:

https://github.com/ruffle-rs/ruffle

Unlike the several previous Open Source "Flash player" projects that didn't really go anywhere, this one works and is very actively developed. :)

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#94

Post by latchkey »

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…

Stop drinking entirely. I know it is hard to not have that nice beer or glass of wine, but the reality is that alcohol is just poison.

Once you stop, you realize that it feels like some great conspiracy. We're literally bombarded with ads and social pressure to drink. It is like the pressure at your job to sign up for a 401k because you don't know how to manage money yourself and you should let someone else do it for you because it is too much effort.

As soon as I stopped drinking beer a couple years ago, my belly disappeared (and no more hangovers). I realized that bloated feeling was my body reacting to it. A couple years later, I cut out the rest of alcohol. The more things that I cut out, the better I feel. I've since cut out eating chicken too, once I realized it made me super gassy. Don't miss it at all.

Despite the initial annoyance, it's fun to say no now at dinners because I know that I'll wake up in the morning feeling fine.

It's interesting to see posts on twitter and elsewhere now saying the same things. People seem to be waking up to the fact that we just don't need to drink. I feel so much better as a result, especially as I age.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#95

Post by cgh »

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?

I had laser surgery. Not for everyone, but if you're a candidate (they do a comprehensive eye exam first), it could be some of the best money you ever spent. It was for me, anyway.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#96

Post by tommaho »

softwaredoug wrote: post #66
tessierashpool wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you lose 10% of your raw intellect if you stay healthy this is not true, and not substantiated. maybe you meant “if you don’t stay healthy,” but it’s still not an accurate number, or even a thing which is specific enough that attaching a number to it could mean anything. there is some improvement in cognitive function from exercise, but that applies to all age ranges.

My understanding of the research is summed up in this paper[1]. Which states: > The most important changes in cognition with normal aging are declines in performance on cognitive tasks that require one to quickly process or transform information to make a decision, including measures of speed of processing, working memory, and executive cognitive function. Cumulative knowledge and experiential skills are well maintai…

As a casual reader of the thread, with little or no related knowledge:

The years add depth and complexity to our filters for processing new knowledge. Is the delay measurable? Probably. Is that 'decline'? Maybe it looks like it by the simplest standards.

Is there a meaningful analogy in neuroscience where simpler and more robust 'structures' - superficially appearing as a degeneration - could be a reflection of efficiency and optimization?

I can tackle complexities in my 40s that I couldn't dream of in my 20s. (Maybe I'm a late bloomer.) If my 40s -> 60s is anything like my 20s -> 40s, mentally, I'm just a little bit excited to be honest.

Total outsider thinking out loud. The suggestion that our 20's is any sort of peak (besides maybe animal / physical) gives me a laugh. I was a simpleton in my 20s.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#97

Post by emmender »

kokanee wrote: post #83
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…

This is a great question. and I have worked at multiple startups, and mega-corps. The only attribute I would look for is the engineering culture in the team or org you are joining. I found the best orgs to have a cultural tone set by engineer-turned managers who remain hands-on and value excellence in engineering.

Majority of managers are average coders who have moved on to management. Such managers look down at engineers with disdain (or as code-monkeys) or worse they see themselves higher in the status hierarchy and impose themselves on the engineers or god-forbid, they see themselves as technically better and interfere in technical decisions. this leads to a poor engineering culture in the org as excellence in engineering is not even measured or appreciated

granted, the cultural tone of a team or org is difficult to gauge from outside and during the interview process.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#98

Post by conductr »

makz wrote: post #69
javcasas wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

39 here. I'm significantly better than in my 20s. Much more knowledge and wisdom, a bit less raw brainpower. But I know I can force myself through hard stuff (prolog, category theory, ML research papers) but only if I can kick out instant gratification for a while (reddit, hn, videogames). I remember this week more than 10 years ago where my graphics card died, and had to go with this ancient card with zero accelerat…

37 here. I’m probably slower than in my 20s but somehow I feel smarter. I feel it takes me less time to learn new stuff and solve complex issues.

Agree. I've learned an approach to picking up new things, solving problems, and thinking things through such that I get it right the first time more often. It's a measure twice cut once type approach. Where as, my younger self would just start trying things and would end up getting it right eventually. It felt fast but took longer and might have had some collateral damage depending on situation.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#99

Post by cgh »

mariopt wrote: post #6

I suppose Senior developers, my self included, enjoy fast paces straight to the point learning resources. One of my favorite websites is https://egghead.io/ but some people do complain about behind a bit too fast. Overall, there is heaps of great tutorial on youtube. If you're looking for an online community mostly you'll be facing many people who are learning how to code. I would choose a specific software and look…

I think the OP is talking more about community rather than pure learning resources. It's not like you need different resources at 50 than you do at 30. It's just fun to shoot the shit and compare war stories and strategies with one's peer group, I guess.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#100

Post by jasonlotito »

latchkey wrote: post #85
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 dislike meta posts generally, but I'll give it a go so maybe you learn.

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

Because you were whining about down votes.

Generally, when I see someone whining about voting, I'll vote down without a second thought, regardless of the content of the post. Why?

From the guidelines: "Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading."

I know a good number of other people react this way as well.

Instead of whining about getting voted up or down, instead, use this as an opportunity to improve your messaging.

> I'll happily take the negative karma, cause I know it brings some awareness.

Up-voted comments bring more awareness. If you truly cared about bringing awareness to something, you'd want to communicate effectively, and effective communication is critical in our field.

Anyways, I generally hate meta comments like this one, but hopefully you have a better understanding of why people are most likely down voting this comment.

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