You aren't getting any better

Stockbroker performance would be an ok point of comparison for another non-deterministic profession, like an athlete. But programming is deterministic. Your code either performs the desired function in the desired way or it does not.

Additionally, there are clear skills you can pick up. You either know these things or you don't.

You really can objectively improve at programming, without room for any interpretation or argument. There's no randomness involved.

With being a stock broker, there's a luck factor. Your pick may have been based on sound objective reasons. Made better by more thorough processes than picks you made in your 20's. But natural disasters or internal corruption which was not disclosed may cause an outcome completely against what everything else predicted thus ruining your performance.

Unpredictable disasters for us can be setbacks, but they don't ruin our performance as developers.

It's just that getting better is a draining, exhausting, humbling, confusing, difficult, pain in the ass process where your effectiveness goes to 0 for a while as you do something new.

I think the reality is that people avoid getting better because the process to truly make such strides is a horrible experience.

For instance; after 12 years of vim I'm trying emacs ... intensively; and it's overwhelming. I want to do things in vim but I'm forcing myself to learn the other side of the fence. And you know what? It has been truly invaluable.

Next time you get an idea tell yourself: "I'm going to write this in (pick a random language, like prolog, or ocaml that you don't know)."

And stick to it until it's done. Pretend like you've never used anything else and must learn all of it over again.

Then try something else you aren't good at. Spend many hours a day at it.

Ask yourself "If I was 15 ... how would I approach this?" or "If I was much smarter than me, how would I approach this?". Both systems help you unshackle yourself from your comfort zone and the latter helps you try to get a better handle on things you haven't yet.

Dedicating yourself to the learning process towards mastery outside the institutions of learning takes real dedication and is a pain.

But I certainly write a better parser and lexer than I did out of college. I certainly write better functional and object oriented code. I certainly organize my time better. Across the board, I run circles around my 23 year old self because I continue to endure the unnecessary pains of intellectual growth.

And one day, I'll finally sit down and figure out how to write a mobile app. It's up next. I've had a bunch of failed starts, but my next idea will run on my phone; whether it belongs there or not.

Not because "I can" but because I've told myself that "I will".

Alternatively, he could be following the advice of Korzybski, in Science and Sanity en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Korzybski