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Comment by darreld | Hacker News Reader

I'm 65 and started a new job as a programmer a few weeks ago. I can relate to your brain elasticity issues for sure. I am really enjoying the new team and the work is fun but it does take its toll on my brain. By the end of a full day of coding or troubleshooting my brain feels... depleted. By friday I find it more difficult than in the past to quickly remember things.

I am doing well in the job and, due to a long career, have experience in a lot of the things they need. I am also still excited about learning new skills and toolsets and I'm in the right place for it.

But I do feel that the brain depletion, it feels like I have used something up - glycogen or something, is noticeable.

Any OTC recommendations would be appreciated.

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Anyone who is working hard all day will feel depleted.

I wish people would stop pandering in this thread. It is reinforcing ageist stereotypes.

It feels this way for everyone, some people just pretend to be geniuses and cover up their mistakes.

Just use a normal structured note-taking process in a text file, and review it periodically (start of day, end of day), and you will have a superhero memory better than anyone on the team.

I review the scrum board before daily, and I review the backlog before planning meetings, and people are super impressed with how I remember every detail about everything.

I'm 42. I use mental math to stay sharp. Exercise and diet also make a difference.

Could you elaborate on the mental math part - do you do particular exercises?

There are a lot of apps available, just search on mental math. I've found that relatively simple arithmetic done repeatedly works well, look for those kinds of apps. About 10-15 mins of these problems per day is enough.

Stupid question, wouldn't coding (keeping the flow of the code in mind), being the same type if exercise?

For me coding is mostly about memory, math is more about processing.

No it doesn't give me the same effect, surprisingly. However it does definitely help with coding.

It gives your working memory and symbol manipulation a workout. Coding uses these facilities, but might not work them directly enough to be as good at training them. That's my theory so far.

Get B1 HCL 100-2000mg + NAD+ booster (Niagen) + Mg Threonate, that resolves inefficient energy metabolism in your brain/nerves that might cause the feeling of your brain being depleted (pseudohypoxia). Also, at your age L-Carnitine might be needed. Q10/Quercetin/Pterostilben/Bromelain/Betaine/NAC/R ALA/DCA might be worth considering depending on what other issues you face.

I am 48 and while I still like “programming”, I saw the writing on the wall about four years ago and knew I didn’t want to deal with the leetcode monkey dance shit show that would be required to transition to BigTech from enterprise/corp dev.

I also knew I wanted to make more money. I did a slight pivot. But for all intents and purposes, I’m still a “developer” just with a fancier title.

Good dark chocolate (>80%) helps me focus. And tastes great!

Could it be because dark chocolate has caffeine in it?

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