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Poll: How old are you?

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Re: Poll: How old are you?

#101

Post by uiri »

Enquiry wrote: post #43

People aged 1-20: How did you find HN? HN isn't easily found on search engines (except for the exact keywords "hacker" and "news"). I can't imagine how a 15 year old is stumbling upon Hacker News, other than a mentor or parent referring them.

Well, it is fairly easy to stumble across Eric S Raymond's How To Be A Hacker if one has any interest in writing software (or just FOSS in general). At the end of that piece, he links to a couple of Paul Graham's essays, which in turn link to his other essays. HN is the topic of at least a couple of PG's essays so it would surprise me if sooner or later someone reading said essays didn't visit HN at least once.

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#102

Post by stephencanon »

chubot wrote: post #71
alexvr wrote: post #60

At what age would you say you were smartest, if you have noticed any fluctuation? I hear you mental power peaks at about 22 and begins to decline after 26, but that's pretty depressing, and I don't want to believe it, so if you have experience to counter or confirm this, please share. If you have noticed any decline in "fluid intelligence," is it negligible? Does your wisdom and experience outweigh any mental decline…

The good thing is that software isn't math or music. In those fields you might peak at 26. Software is mathematical but it also requires a lot of judgement and experience. Consider that Guido van Rossum didn't even START working on Python (most popular language on HN) until age 35. From what I can see 30's and 40's is a sweet spot for a lot of programmers. It seems like a lot of startup founders are young, but I thin…

> In those fields you might peak at 26.

This is oft-repeated, but I’ve never seen any actual evidence to support it. I know plenty of mathematicians who didn’t start doing their best work until they were in their 40s, and musicians who have only gotten better well into their 60s.

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#103

Post by pestaa »

bjhoops1 wrote: post #92
edw519 wrote: post #42

58, writing more code, having more fun, reaching more people, & making more $ than ever, all of which still seem limitless: edw519's Hacker Quality of Life | ?? | ** | ** | ** | ** | ** | ** | ** | ** | ** | ***** ------------------------------- 10 20 30 40 50 60

I was really hoping "making more" would be followed with "love". Money's great too, though. :)

After a certain age, "making more" can't be followed with "love". Or so I've heard.

If I am aware of the correct meaning, that is. (Not native.)

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#104

Post by ThomPete »

A friend of my parents is nearing 70.

In his younger years he reversed engineered the apple2 and excels in music, painting and and of course hacking like there is no tomorrow. He can literally build anything he wants to.

He is an expert in assembler and and a couple of higher level languages, but it is his assembler skills that have always amazed me because he would always produce some crazy hardware for his many passions. And he had many. This was besides running a successful bank security company.

He is a watch geek and is building this in half size from scratch litterally.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jens_Olsen's_World_Clock

One of the wrenches is 400 years to resolve around it's own axis.

Here is some of that work.

http://000fff.org/watches/523223_10150679399796150_150139365...

And here are some more of his work:

http://000fff.org/watches/134363_468677071149_7733152_o.jpg

http://000fff.org/watches/135126_468676956149_1839796_o.jpg

http://000fff.org/watches/169423_468677241149_6736953_o.jpg

He also designed this small boat harbour for the local area he lives in https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!q=bryggen%2C+copenhagen... because he bought a boat.

I somehow wonder how many Da Vinci's are out there with these kind skills. I can't even begin to think who they manage.

Would be cool to do a series of some of these holder hackers.

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#105

Post by pestaa »

throwit1979 wrote: post #80
podperson wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where's the bump for "kids go to college"?

I don't think Ed has kids, which is partially why his quality of life is so high.

You can't just make that many assumptions in one short sentence. Granted, I don't have kids, either. ;)

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#108

Post by jjindev »

ThomPete wrote: post #104

A friend of my parents is nearing 70. In his younger years he reversed engineered the apple2 and excels in music, painting and and of course hacking like there is no tomorrow. He can literally build anything he wants to. He is an expert in assembler and and a couple of higher level languages, but it is his assembler skills that have always amazed me because he would always produce some crazy hardware for his many pas…

My step-grandfather was a Danish watchmaker who moved to California. My dad was a prototype machinist at Lockheed. I program. I've always thought of that as a progression. [51-55 age bucket]

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#109

Post by peterwwillis »

pestaa wrote: post #103
bjhoops1 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was really hoping "making more" would be followed with "love". Money's great too, though. :)

After a certain age, "making more" can't be followed with "love". Or so I've heard. If I am aware of the correct meaning, that is. (Not native.)

Bob Dole might have a bone to pick with you.
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