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I’m nearly 60. Here’s what I’ve learned about growing old so far

theguardian.com

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Re: I’m nearly 60. Here’s what I’ve learned about growing old so far

#31

Post by jaclaz »

perilunar wrote: post #6
stichers wrote: post #2

>>"After 50 one begins to recognise in oneself a growing resistance to change, if only because it so often nullifies years of hard-won training" This really struck home to me. It's true: we teach ourselves life hacks and gradually they become redundant as different life skills are needed.

But also I'd like to think we get better at distinguishing between good changes and bad changes. We should resist the bad changes, or at least explain ad nauseam to the kids that their proposed change a) has been tried before and was crap, or b) is the beginning of the end, or c) is against the natural order of things. ;)

Yes, you are perfectly right, but sometimes it is overwhelming/tiring, the bad changes are becoming so common (and supported/accepted by so many people) that "fighting" against them appears to be (and very probably it actually is anyway) completely void of any relevance.

Re: I’m nearly 60. Here’s what I’ve learned about growing old so far

#32

Post by sdfhdhjdw3 »

tartoran wrote: post #29
sdfhdhjdw3 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't believe you have a PhD in math, can do leetcode easily, but AWS is too much for you. I will personally show you around AWS if you're up for it. Although, I only know EC2, but arguably that's the only thing that matters :D

Why would they need to learn AWS? Their other skills, knowledge and experience is too valuable to do AWS plumbing work. Work can be delegated in areas that one is not skilled in if they bring other valuable skills to the table. Unless the desired goal is to be an AWS engineer but that’s a different story.

I don't know why they would need to learn AWS, ask them. They mentioned it, not me. I just offered to help.

Re: I’m nearly 60. Here’s what I’ve learned about growing old so far

#34

Post by steve_g »

gumby wrote: post #21

Wow, I’m 58 and I could write almost the exact opposite for each paragraph (ok pop music from 1999-2004 I agree with). No “oof” getting up. Knobs are unremarkable. Continuing to work on things that yes, are intended to change the world. One thing not mentioned: I see someone on the street and they are the spitting image of someone I know well…as they looked 30 years ago.

I had the "oof" but I got rid of it by lifting weights, starting at age 51. I don't lift much anymore, because I kept hurting myself doing powerlifting. But it got rid of the "oof."

I'm sure there's a happy medium lifting enough to keep healthy but not so much that it causes injury. I've never been good at doing medium.

Re: I’m nearly 60. Here’s what I’ve learned about growing old so far

#35

Post by daniel-s »

sdfhdhjdw3 wrote: post #23
newbye3 wrote: post #4

I am 60 years old and as a person always learning I have accumulated a huge stack of knowledge and I think my mind is in a very good shape so I still can learn new things quickly. Long time ago I found a good balance between life and work, and a good paid job by european standards. The only problem is that sometimes I envy the 200K $ paid jobs, but there are two main walls to pursue that salary: First: I have no work…

I can't believe you have a PhD in math, can do leetcode easily, but AWS is too much for you. I will personally show you around AWS if you're up for it. Although, I only know EC2, but arguably that's the only thing that matters :D

I'm more curious and interested to find out about this guy on the internet who wants to personally offer and guide a random stranger around AWS. Tell me more about yourself, good sir.

Re: I’m nearly 60. Here’s what I’ve learned about growing old so far

#36

Post by D-Coder »

MockObject wrote: post #26

> Certain common stereotypes of older people – as creatures bewildered by technology and outfoxed by ordinary packaging – have at their root this resistance to pointless change. I have decades of experience in getting the lids off things, all of it rendered useless by these new lids they have now. Packaging gets more infernal every year, and I don't understand why. Fine, put the safety seal on the Tylenol, but I'm ro…

For a while, I was taking an anti-coagulant whose packaging could only be opened with a very sharp blade.

I suppose a small explosive charge might have worked too but never tried it...

Re: I’m nearly 60. Here’s what I’ve learned about growing old so far

#37

Post by djmips »

jafo wrote: post #18
newbye3 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26708148 The service is only free until you reach their limit. The post has 166 comments.

This sounds a lot like "an old guy's excuse". If you are 60 years old, you learned how to monitor your spending in the late 1960s. Same skill here.

When they were eight?

Re: I’m nearly 60. Here’s what I’ve learned about growing old so far

#39

Post by strikelaserclaw »

newbye3 wrote: post #4

I am 60 years old and as a person always learning I have accumulated a huge stack of knowledge and I think my mind is in a very good shape so I still can learn new things quickly. Long time ago I found a good balance between life and work, and a good paid job by european standards. The only problem is that sometimes I envy the 200K $ paid jobs, but there are two main walls to pursue that salary: First: I have no work…

If you live in USA, i'm pretty sure you can pull 200k easy even if all you know if leetcoding well.

Re: I’m nearly 60. Here’s what I’ve learned about growing old so far

#40

Post by notgoodrobot »

mathgladiator wrote: post #27
sdfhdhjdw3 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't believe you have a PhD in math, can do leetcode easily, but AWS is too much for you. I will personally show you around AWS if you're up for it. Although, I only know EC2, but arguably that's the only thing that matters :D

I worked at AWS and have architected large scale systems, and AWS is too much for me. The problem is that many of their solutions are super focused and they have ecosystem lock-in (i.e. lambda) which allow it all to come together (at a price).

What is a better route for someone wanting to run a personal project but also learn the tooling that would be needed if the project "took off" in the sense of using a lot of bandwidth or having a lot of users/data? If that question is too broad... Is lightsail a good starting place within AWS? Or is there another service that would allow for less lock in but similar features?
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