11–20 of 71 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We won the hackathon after talking to the judges
Too old to compete? How the hell did they justify that one? Because you were too old, you'd have an unfair advantage? What was their reasoning behind that one?
Maybe the rules should have stated a maximum about of experience for the chosen tech/programming language.
Learning to code can be a daunting task at any age but entering a Coding Bootcamp where the average age range of the students is 18-25 can make an aspiring web developer who is older feel out of place. I attended a Coding Bootcamp at the age of 31, and while I am still technically considered a millennial (And I am super young at heart), even I have felt like there is a bias in tech/startup culture that leans towards…
In 2016 the organizers of a hackathon threatened to disqualify our team after 24+ hours of coding for being "too old to compete" That's interesting. What was the fear? That your years of experience and additional knowledge would be an unfair advantage?
Coding is a calling. You can learn anything if you have the calling for it. If you learn because you 'should' (ie, it's encouraged by others and or/money) you will end up being average at it, at best.
Coding is not for everyone, it's a pipe dream. It's not because all modern tech is based on it that you should learn it -- same way as Lewis Hamilton doesn't need to be a car mechanic to be a good driver.
I've started programming at 12yo, got my first paid gig at 16, and I haven't stopped being a 'programmer' (as they used to be called) since, and I'm now 49yo. I can't imagine NOT doing any 'coding'. In that time I saw countless average/bad programmers (and there are more and more of them) who /probably/ would have been better trying to follow a calling of their own...
As far as having a successful career as a programmer, I think there is one major trap I've seen many, many programmers fall into. And that is 'mind sclerosis' -- ie refusal to evolve with the time/tools. People who are actually quite/very good at one set of tools sometime refuse to evolve and down these favorite toys in favor of what is perceived (often, they are) as inferior replacements. Problem is, 5 years down the line, they are no longer employable. I've seen that too many times to count.
The NEXT trap is to realize that your time is limited. You can't learn everything and you have to be very, VERY selective on the set of tech you want to invest your time in. Don't bangwagon on stuff -- ask yourself whether it's likely to be a selleable skill -- if not, don't waste time on it.
Yes yes- as one grows older, one learns more slowly etc etc. I will quote the words of Rita Levi-Montalcini:
“At 100, I have a mind that is superior – thanks to experience – than when I was 20” [1].
Would it that we could all have as long, productive and intellectually rewarding life as she had. Is all I'm going to say.
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[1] https://iainews.iai.tv/articles/rita-levi-montalcini-the-nob...
People in tech like to think that they are logically, even scientifically minded but the truth is we are all subject to cultural bias, just as much as the next person. This silly idea that computers are a young man's game is going to come back and bite a great many people in the behind in a few years, when they naturally age and find themselves over what they previously considered the age threshold for the job they s…
First, there is a real reason. Young people are more likely to be engaged with newer knowledge, technology, tools and such. That's balanced against older people being more experienced. It's particularly relevant in the software space, but the youthful exuberance VS experienced sobriety trade-off exists in all fields. Think of medicine, architecture, art...
The bigger reason (imo) for the bias is entirely arbitrary. Software is a new, rapidly growing field. There aren't many 50-something coders because most people start a profession in their youth and there wasn't as much code in their youth.
Far fewer people learned to code in the 80s than today. So.. the total number of people who code is skewed young. People see way more young coders than old ones. They assume only young people can code.
The point about people learning more new things in their youth is valid regardless of field.
While I agree that in principle you can learn to code at any age, I think this article misses the entire point of every "learn to code" article. Whether it's kids, women, oldies etc etc. Coding is a calling. You can learn anything if you have the calling for it. If you learn because you 'should' (ie, it's encouraged by others and or/money) you will end up being average at it, at best. Coding is not for everyone, it's…
For me, I actually feel passionate about tech choices because some tech is just awesome and fun. Most of the enterprise shit is not fun at all, but very sellable.
But as a junior Dev, I would start with sellable of course.
It's not so much bias but demographics. The amount of people in the software industry has been doubling every five years since programming became a thing. At 43, that means I mostly get to work with people much younger than me. The median age seems to be about 28. I also have friends that are in their fifties of which there are even less than my age group . For every 50 year old there are four 40 year olds, 16 30 yea…
Absolutely! Robert C. Martin (Uncle Bob) also has this view, and I think it's much more true than the "once you hit 40 you get forced out of engineering and into management" meme.
According to jetbrains survey, 85% of developers work on weekends.
While I agree that in principle you can learn to code at any age, I think this article misses the entire point of every "learn to code" article. Whether it's kids, women, oldies etc etc. Coding is a calling. You can learn anything if you have the calling for it. If you learn because you 'should' (ie, it's encouraged by others and or/money) you will end up being average at it, at best. Coding is not for everyone, it's…
You are right to a degree about 'sellable tech' but I would hate programming if I had only learned Java and stuck to it because it's popular. For me, I actually feel passionate about tech choices because some tech is just awesome and fun. Most of the enterprise shit is not fun at all, but very sellable. But as a junior Dev, I would start with sellable of course.
Sometime it's worth 'gambling' too -- for example in 2012 I went all 3d-printer-y, learned everything firmware, hardware, design tools etc -- my justification was a bit 'thin' as in "perhaps it's the new 'micro computer' generation and I'd better be on it" -- 9 months later I decided it wasn't, and dropped it mostly.
Then 2 years later I landed a HUGE paying job completely related to that tech, completely out of the blue, and that more than repaid the time I spent on it.
Learning to code can be a daunting task at any age but entering a Coding Bootcamp where the average age range of the students is 18-25 can make an aspiring web developer who is older feel out of place. I attended a Coding Bootcamp at the age of 31, and while I am still technically considered a millennial (And I am super young at heart), even I have felt like there is a bias in tech/startup culture that leans towards…