slightly more recent, slightly expanded version of the same talk, with link to slides:
The Aging Programmer [video]
61–70 of 175 posts
Re: The Aging Programmer [video]
#62My peak programming skills are close to what they were 30 years ago, but I cannot sustain that level of concentration for long periods as I once could. I feel like a pinch hitter: I can do a couple innings at a high level of performance, but I can't keep that level up as long as I used to. OTOH I think I have better judgement when it comes to deep, complex questions of long-term architecture choices. My "meta-program…
The challenge here is a lot of managers don't know how to grade you based on things you successfully avoided.
Re: The Aging Programmer [video]
#63My peak programming skills are close to what they were 30 years ago, but I cannot sustain that level of concentration for long periods as I once could. I feel like a pinch hitter: I can do a couple innings at a high level of performance, but I can't keep that level up as long as I used to. OTOH I think I have better judgement when it comes to deep, complex questions of long-term architecture choices. My "meta-program…
> but I cannot sustain that level of concentration for long periods as I once could. This scares me. I'm younger and thus, I feel like social media and short form content has had so much impact on my ability to focus that it already feels bad where it is right now. Never thought this might be the peak of my concentration power though.
I'm 40 and as far as I can tell, I can concentrate just as well now as I did when I was 20. I'm also pretty deliberate with what I do in life, I don't engage in "mass social media" like FB/Twitter/etc. , I don't use YouTube, Tiktok, etc.. .. I mean, I will view something if someone sends a link, but I don't "browse" stuff (partly because browsing literally anything feels like I'm being manipulated and I'm pretty sensitive to that). Sometimes I see someone using a modern social media app like FB, IG or whatever, and I cannot imagine that months and years of this kind of "scrolling endlessly, pausing on things that grab your attention, then resuming" is healthy for one's consciousness or focus. I think the summary is, I live my life the same way I did in 1999 or whatever, as I've found that works for me, and I have to basically actively reject what modern society tries to manipulate me into living like. (btw this is hard to do, EVERYONE and EVERYTHING wants me to be paying attention to millions of disparate trivial things, it's a literal nonstop battle...)
Re: The Aging Programmer [video]
#64My peak programming skills are close to what they were 30 years ago, but I cannot sustain that level of concentration for long periods as I once could. I feel like a pinch hitter: I can do a couple innings at a high level of performance, but I can't keep that level up as long as I used to. OTOH I think I have better judgement when it comes to deep, complex questions of long-term architecture choices. My "meta-program…
> but I cannot sustain that level of concentration for long periods as I once could. This scares me. I'm younger and thus, I feel like social media and short form content has had so much impact on my ability to focus that it already feels bad where it is right now. Never thought this might be the peak of my concentration power though.
I'm also a middle aged programmer and I don't think parent's observation is really about age per se.
Rather: we of a certain age grew up in a world before the optimized dopamine reward cycle of social media, and when the news / politics / outrage loops were far less potent. We could focus more because... well... we weren't being distracted to death.
Maintaining deep focus in the face of this onslaught is a skill I feel like people of all ages need to curate.
Re: The Aging Programmer [video]
#65How is BMI racist?
One example of many - https://www.henryford.com/blog/2023/11/how-bmi-is-flawed-and...
Re: The Aging Programmer [video]
#66Lots of interesting personal stories and anecdotes in the comments. I was wondering what the average case would be, though, as I don't think many people, myself included, will be far from the average. Indeed, the video cautioned us in the Disclaimer section at the minute 1:24 and quoted the famous WWII story on survival bias.
Re: The Aging Programmer [video]
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
> but I cannot sustain that level of concentration for long periods as I once could. This scares me. I'm younger and thus, I feel like social media and short form content has had so much impact on my ability to focus that it already feels bad where it is right now. Never thought this might be the peak of my concentration power though.
I'm 40 and as far as I can tell, I can concentrate just as well now as I did when I was 20. I'm also pretty deliberate with what I do in life, I don't engage in "mass social media" like FB/Twitter/etc. , I don't use YouTube, Tiktok, etc.. .. I mean, I will view something if someone sends a link, but I don't "browse" stuff (partly because browsing literally anything feels like I'm being manipulated and I'm pretty sens…
This site is a social network. Not as bad as Facebook or Twitter/X, but pretty much the same idea.
Re: The Aging Programmer [video]
#68Additional instance of this presentation put on by the same speaker at another conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LArOT95LTJU
Re: The Aging Programmer [video]
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm 40 and as far as I can tell, I can concentrate just as well now as I did when I was 20. I'm also pretty deliberate with what I do in life, I don't engage in "mass social media" like FB/Twitter/etc. , I don't use YouTube, Tiktok, etc.. .. I mean, I will view something if someone sends a link, but I don't "browse" stuff (partly because browsing literally anything feels like I'm being manipulated and I'm pretty sens…
This site is a social network. Not as bad as Facebook or Twitter/X, but pretty much the same idea.
I imagine you can recognize the difference between an extractive, engagement-metric-driven profit-centre like FB or "X" and a forum-like discussion site like Hacker News. There's a reason I used the phrase "mass social media". And actually, no, HN is not a social network in the same category as the ones I mentioned. No one has a "wall"/feed, you can't add/message friends, there's no algorithm telling me what to see, etc.
Re: The Aging Programmer [video]
#70One thing I've struggled with, that is very personality dependent, is being assertive around younger, sharper programmers. It can be an odd dynamic, where I may work with people smarter and faster but less experienced than myself. It can become difficult depending on the dynamics to push for the best choices in architecture, libraries, etc, when it is something they don't want to do, if you are not explicitly their s…
> know you should have pushed harder, perhaps even put your job on the line
If you are not the ultimate decision-maker, it is not your fault what decision was made. If you are going out of your way to point out the flaws and issues you anticipate, you are doing everything you need and, indeed, everything you reasonably can.