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Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

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Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#151

Post by asdfman123 »

hamdouni wrote: post #145
asdfman123 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a lot of reasons older people encounter resistance is they don't want to play along with the BS. Lots of 20-somethings would have no trouble working with a graybeard in his 50s if he was patient, played along, and acted as a mentor. But they don't want to work with him if he's rude and dismissive, and there's more of them than him.

What ever is the age, nobody wants to work with a rude and dismissive person.

Yep. Too many people think their age and experience gives them an excuse to be rude.

You can be "correct" but still a jerk. If the people who you're rude to can influence decisions, they won't go well for you.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#152

Post by jenkstom »

asdfman123 wrote: post #110
lallysingh wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I think a lot of reasons older people encounter resistance is they don't want to play along with the BS. Lots of 20-somethings would have no trouble working with a graybeard in his 50s if he was patient, played along, and acted as a mentor. But they don't want to work with him if he's rude and dismissive, and there's more of them than him.

As a resident graybeard in my 50's, I have to say I really dislike working with rude and dismissive kids.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#153

Post by rlawson »

tasteofmaple wrote: post #149

I'm 69 years old and I started coding in earnest 6 years ago. Love doing it. Last year I retired from my day job and I've been coding everyday for 6 or 7 hours on personal projects. I find my mind has become sharper and really good at problem solving. The only issue I have with coding is it's somewhat of a solitary existence. If I had taken up golf I would have buddies to play golf with. With coding I sit in front of…

Do you mind me asking what got you interested in coding and what kinds of things do you work on?

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#154

Post by makz »

gardenhedge wrote: post #104
makz wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

In what way are you slower then?

Reflexes, movements, manual tasks, repetitive tasks

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#155

Post by grepfru_it »

belter wrote: post #146

The Ageism present in the Software Development industry, is a sign of its still ever present immaturity. While in any other field...Who want's their house designed by the youngest, freshly graduated Architect? Who wants to be operated by a Surgeon on it's 2nd heart operation? Who wants the Junior Partner Lawyer supporting them on their court attendance? What would the Abel prize winners think? https://abelprize.no/wi…

Wrong professions.

Who wants the old man mechanic?

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#156

Post by PantaloonFlames »

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…

Yinzer!

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#158

Post by hermitcrab »

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'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.

Big fonts and big monitors!

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#159

Post by belter »

grepfru_it wrote: post #155
belter wrote: post #146

The Ageism present in the Software Development industry, is a sign of its still ever present immaturity. While in any other field...Who want's their house designed by the youngest, freshly graduated Architect? Who wants to be operated by a Surgeon on it's 2nd heart operation? Who wants the Junior Partner Lawyer supporting them on their court attendance? What would the Abel prize winners think? https://abelprize.no/wi…

Wrong professions. Who wants the old man mechanic?

Wrong example: [1] - "Their years of experience means that they know how to look for and address issues with cars in such a way to keep the car running for years. If you want to reduce future maintenance, a knowledgeable mechanic is the smart choice"

[1]. "The Importance of Hiring a Good Mechanic" - https://www.postonmotorcompany.com/hiring-a-good-mechanic

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#160

Post by ilaksh »

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.

Because a big aspect of intelligence is compression and decompression. As people age they have more context already available so there is more to draw on (automatically) when solving problems or learning. So less distance to get there.
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