Dangerous Feelings

collaborativefund.com

28 points·impostervt··5 comments

The article somehow has an air of profoundness, but at the same time is very vague.

> You see it all the time in so many industries. Veterans fall behind the younger generation because if veterans admitted that they had to adapt to what the younger generation is doing they’d feel like the hard work they put over their career was for nothing.

Obviously he is talking about Javascript, but does it really apply to so many industries ?

Yes. It is a matter of philosophical idea that humans are wired to learn. It is not about the achievements from the past, it is about progression on how we learn day by day.

This is just as vague.

It’s called the sunken cost fallacy- a great one to be aware of. It can (initially) be counter-intuitive too many people.

It maybe applies, but I don't think he's talking about JavaScript alone. Maybe he talks about NoSQL, maybe Rust, maybe Agile, maybe CI. Hell, I even know some 50+ years software engineers at a 100k people company, who will never learn git, except mindlessly copy pasting commands or use any other commit message than "Updated" - and they keep updating their RevLog files. But is he even talking about programming? I think it applies to a lot of industries, even small business. Maybe a seasoned car dealer misses the opportunity of online advertising, because he knows how to sell cars and does not need this outlandish stuff. Your experience can be in the way in many cases.

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