Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 229 posts

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#131

Post by lowercased »

wing-_-nuts wrote: post #84
lowercased wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Larger monitors? I worked off a laptop for 15 years. I was a lot more mobile, and the laptop was my primary display. 2020, with travel stopped, I got a desktop and couple of large monitors (32"). I still don't feel terribly more 'productive' with multiple monitors (years of experience on single monitor only!) but the large monitors help a lot. Separately, since I primarily work on a desktop, it's harder to just 'work…

I'm looking to get a 32" 4k monitor as my external monitor. What sort of scaling do you use? I hear most folks go with 150% but that puts one right back at 1440p real estate.

I normally still keep it at 2560x1440. Actually, looking at it, it doesn't go higher (not a 4k, missed that when purchasing it). My other one (well, it's not 32" - 27") I toggle between 1680 and 2160.

Even when I have 'more' real estate on the 27", I sometimes end up zooming the screen sometimes anyway to get closer.

I've had a couple friend rave about their ultra-wides, and I might get just one ultra-wide to replace the two I have.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#132

Post by cushpush »

dlivingston wrote: post #126
lelanthran wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as maintaining focus goes, I had a lot of trouble doing so after 40. I wrote a small program[1] to help me maintain context between different projects, and I'm now more productive than I was in my 30s. [1] I tried all the personal task management and task tracker tools, even wrote a few of my own. It turned out that my brain works differently to how the tools want you to work. My new tool which works well to k…

Can you give some details on your tool? I've played the "productivity app whack-a-mole" game, too, and always walk away empty. I just stick with a pen and paper, but I'd love a digital solution.

it sounds like it's gotta be catered to your workflow. i wonder what this is like, i work out of sketch books and paper+pen a lot. project context seems like a good thing to be able to preserve and replicate between the various frames. elon mentioned that context switching was one of the more costly plays

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#133

Post by drewcoo »

jasonlotito wrote: post #100
latchkey wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I just turned 50 in October I'm turning 50 this month and a professional developer since I was about 21-22. > I think the lack of TDD being as widely adopted Hilariously, I just got -4'd (and a whole thread) for asking why someone didn't just write tests, instead of building some half baked tool to debug their websocket app. The responses were all sorts of absurd excuses. I'll happily take the negative karma, cause…

I dislike meta posts generally, but I'll give it a go so maybe you learn. > Now I'm getting downvoted again. Oh hn, you crack me up. Because you were whining about down votes. Generally, when I see someone whining about voting, I'll vote down without a second thought, regardless of the content of the post. Why? From the guidelines: "Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it mak…

The first rule of fight club is we don't talk openly about the meta-rules of fight club.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#135

Post by lelanthran »

cushpush wrote: post #132
dlivingston wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you give some details on your tool? I've played the "productivity app whack-a-mole" game, too, and always walk away empty. I just stick with a pen and paper, but I'd love a digital solution.

it sounds like it's gotta be catered to your workflow. i wonder what this is like, i work out of sketch books and paper+pen a lot. project context seems like a good thing to be able to preserve and replicate between the various frames. elon mentioned that context switching was one of the more costly plays

> project context seems like a good thing to be able to preserve and replicate between the various frames.

Believe it or not, I actually named the executable 'frame'. However I'm unwilling to share it[1] until I have a good 5m explanation (it's all shell-based).

[1] Well, announce it, anyway. It opensource anyway.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#136

Post by scrozier »

I know it's not a contest, but I just turned 65. I'm currently an individual contributor at a small-ish SaaS company.

I've been a systems programmer, software development director at a well-known retailer, consultant, and (mostly) an entrepreneur who started four companies.

I still LOVE to code. Nothing like the satisfaction, though I enjoyed all the other things I did too.

Ageism is real in our industry. Note the comments below from 30-somethings who are worried their careers are over! Honestly, I'm pretty up-to-date with skills and knowledge. Plus I have so much experience, I know what works and what doesn't work, in the meta sense (architectures, organizations, etc.).

I recently even took on a side gig with a start-up. At our ages, you have to know someone who knows you and knows you'll be good. The good news is that, at our age, we know lots of people.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#137

Post by stcroixx »

latchkey wrote: post #85
superchris wrote: post #35

I just turned 50 in October, and have been coding my entire career plus. I still love and enjoy coding, and feel like I have more to contribute by far than I did early in my career. I have founded a smallish dev studio in Cincinnati (Launch Scout) that I started with a few other developers in 2009. I've tried a few different roles as the company has evolved, but eventually realized that I love coding and helping othe…

> I just turned 50 in October I'm turning 50 this month and a professional developer since I was about 21-22. > I think the lack of TDD being as widely adopted Hilariously, I just got -4'd (and a whole thread) for asking why someone didn't just write tests, instead of building some half baked tool to debug their websocket app. The responses were all sorts of absurd excuses. I'll happily take the negative karma, cause…

You're old enough then to have used message boards before they turned into a popularity contest with voting. It's easy enough to just ignore those features entirely.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#138

Post by richardw »

Just turned 50, moved countries to Sydney. Send 3 CV’s and all bounced. Yet the 20-something boss I currently have (and who is brilliant) moves mountains to try keep me. I don’t code a lot (mostly architecture) but I reduce technical risk and add value in a very wide area. And the most interesting and valuable work I’ve done has been the last couple years.

That’s okay, I get it. Older guy and it’s hitting HR and they have checkboxen. I’ll figure it out.

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#139

Post by [deleted] »

JohnFen wrote: post #29

I'm an older (than you!) developer, but I have no special resources related to that. But for what it's worth, here's my experience. I've found that nothing is really much different being an older developer compared to being a younger one, aside from two things: I have a lower tolerance for bullshit, and I have a much better handle on what my time is actually worth to employers. While ageism is certainly a thing that…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

#140

Post by burnished »

tommaho wrote: post #96
softwaredoug wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding of the research is summed up in this paper[1]. Which states: > The most important changes in cognition with normal aging are declines in performance on cognitive tasks that require one to quickly process or transform information to make a decision, including measures of speed of processing, working memory, and executive cognitive function. Cumulative knowledge and experiential skills are well maintai…

As a casual reader of the thread, with little or no related knowledge: The years add depth and complexity to our filters for processing new knowledge. Is the delay measurable? Probably. Is that 'decline'? Maybe it looks like it by the simplest standards. Is there a meaningful analogy in neuroscience where simpler and more robust 'structures' - superficially appearing as a degeneration - could be a reflection of effic…

From the neuroscience side not that I'm aware of. Getting old is basically the process of your body not being able to repair itself anyway.

I think the apparent conflict resolves if you consider that you have learned to be a better problem solver, a better learner, such that a small decrease in some 'raw ability' is completely overshadowed by gains from learning.

For a concrete example I'm much better at close reading now. Even if younger me was 10x as intelligent there are problems he'd bounce off that I wouldn't simple because I now know how to slow down and read thoughtfully.

Post reply on HN