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Poll: How old are you?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Poll: How old are you?

#161

Post by VladRussian2 »

Udo wrote: post #59
rjh29 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know you are well respected around here, but your ability to sound like a douche seems limitless too.

Could you elaborate on what you mean by "ability to sound like a douche" or is that just a random personal attack? When I think about high-karma HN users with douchy tendencies edw519 is not someone who comes to mind. I mean, in any account exceeding a couple of hundred posts it's probably easy to find some less than stellar content, but I don't remember edw519 ever making a post as low as you just did.

>edw519 ever making a post as low as you just did.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4529609

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#162

Post by ausjke »

I'm 45, each time this kind of voting scares me, I'm indeed too old for this IT thing, but what else can I do? what are those 40s/50s doing? all managers/bosses? or out of work? I'm curious.

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#163

Post by GnarfGnarf »

I'm 65, been programming since 1965. Successfully escaped management. I've never been bored, always having a great time. Just a few months ago I learned DirectX and wrote a 3D app. There are only a few jobs that beat programming (acting, jet pilot), but they're harder to get.

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#164

Post by GnarfGnarf »

dman wrote: post #135
SiVal wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The older I get, the more interested I am in the thoughts of people from another time. I discovered long ago that there is far less continuity of wisdom than young people realize. There is a common assumption among young people that the best ideas of the past are carried forward while the failed ideas are left behind. This is true to some extent, but it is much less true than most young people seem to think. People v…

That sounds very interesting. Any examples?

Root cellars.

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#165

Post by spydum »

thechief35 wrote: post #100

It's interesting to see that in all three polls, after the 30 mark, the number decreases significantly. Why is that?

It isn't that after 30 it drops off, its that people under 30 grew up with computing as part of mainstream culture, so you have an explosion of professionals.

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#167

Post by vacri »

eksith wrote: post #51
beat wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm 48, and I haven't encountered ageism yet. I haven't seen it, among good technical people. The hard part is that by the time you're in your late 40s, you've probably peaked out on advancement. Even if you go into management (which isn't really "advancement"), you're just going to ceiling out there instead.

> among good technical people Good technical people appreciate others who are of equal or greater skill. And I've noticed older (no offense to you folks; I'm speaking relatively) people tend to abhor office politics and the like. Things got done because they needed to get done, not to further some hidden, convoluted, agenda. Most of the people in the upper tiers got there in their early to mid 30s.

I think it's because generally as you get older, you realise that winning office politics points doesn't really give you any reward. Any small moment of gain is fleeting, and you exchange that for destructive behaviour.

It's not to say that older people can't be petty, just that proactively engaging in politics seems to be seen as not particularly worth it. My frame of reference is that I've just turned 40 - I will probably feel differently again in 10 years :)

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#168

Post by earljwagner »

future_grad wrote: post #95
mililani wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I turn 40 in a few months. And time is going by faster as I get older.

What do you do?

I'm grappling with this myself. It appears the answer is to always be doing new things.

"novel experiences seem to slow time perception down. Repetition of events seems to make them go faster." from "Why Time Flies As You Age" - http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/...

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#169

Post by crb3 »

bougiefever wrote: post #35

I'm so old I use a combination of lit and unlit candles to represent my age in binary on my birthday cake so I don't set off the smoke alarm.

A coupla years ago I told 'em they could use one candle if they striped it blue, red, black, gold. They didn't get it.

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#170

Post by Udo »

VladRussian2 wrote: post #161
Udo wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you elaborate on what you mean by "ability to sound like a douche" or is that just a random personal attack? When I think about high-karma HN users with douchy tendencies edw519 is not someone who comes to mind. I mean, in any account exceeding a couple of hundred posts it's probably easy to find some less than stellar content, but I don't remember edw519 ever making a post as low as you just did.

>edw519 ever making a post as low as you just did. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4529609

At least quote me less misleadingly: "I don't remember edw519 ever making a post as low as you just did." - and it looks like you had to dig pretty deep to find something to make your counterpoint, too.

And the post itself? Even if we're retroactively judging someone for voicing a less than flattering opinion about a person who is by now dead, it's not nearly as low as this ad hominem attack above. Is that the worst you could find after putting in the energy to research that guy's content a year back? I probably said worse things this month, and most likely so did you.

I already speculated how we all made some comments that we're probably not proud of, so I'm really not getting what your point is.

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