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Comment by javcasas | Hacker News Reader

39 here. I'm significantly better than in my 20s. Much more knowledge and wisdom, a bit less raw brainpower.

But I know I can force myself through hard stuff (prolog, category theory, ML research papers) but only if I can kick out instant gratification for a while (reddit, hn, videogames).

I remember this week more than 10 years ago where my graphics card died, and had to go with this ancient card with zero acceleration, and no videogames. I was surprisingly productive that week.

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How much of this "less raw brainpower" is due to age, and how much is due to potentially having a less focused mind? I have massively noticed issues with my concentration, and I don't think it's due to age, so much as to watching Youtube and reddit.

I guess what I'm getting at is it's sometimes hard to untangle what changes are due to getting older, and which ones are due to the world changing. For me it's boredom, I used to have long boring summers, and get bored on weekends in the 90's and early 2000's. I haven't been bored in years. Is this because of the internet? But I'm not bored when I don't have access to the internet now, so maybe I just enjoy some peace and quiet now I'm older.

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 keep me on track matches how I work.

IOW, now I don't have to adjust my brain to the tool, the tool is already adjusted to my brain's process.

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.

I like to think we ride the same mental wave at times

In case you are still reading, I did a Show HN (my first one!): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35945609

> Can you give some details on your tool?

I'm conflicted; on the one hand I would like to let the world know about it, but on the other I can see how it would be easily dismissed as useless when there's literally no docs about it.

I think I shall make a small example usage (terminal only) to demonstrate how it helps me, then post a show HN tomorrow or Saturday (depending).

I'll reply to your post again once I post the show HN.

Fwiw I'm also interested in seeing it.

In case you are still reading, I did a Show HN (my first one!): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35945609

37 here. I’m probably slower than in my 20s but somehow I feel smarter. I feel it takes me less time to learn new stuff and solve complex issues.

Agree. I've learned an approach to picking up new things, solving problems, and thinking things through such that I get it right the first time more often. It's a measure twice cut once type approach. Where as, my younger self would just start trying things and would end up getting it right eventually. It felt fast but took longer and might have had some collateral damage depending on situation.

In what way are you slower then?

I'm 43 and probably slower in the sense that I'm slower at producing code.

I'm slower because I think more about the code I produce. I have a wider knowledge of the domain I work in, cross cutting concerns, and technical choices that I'm taking into account when producing code. So I arrive at a more-correct solution faster.

I would say the tradeoff is worth it, but of course I would because I'm not in my 20s. If faster while missing more security issues, performance problems, and corner cases is what you want, my 20 year old self is probably better.

Reflexes, movements, manual tasks, repetitive tasks

Because a big aspect of intelligence is compression and decompression. As people age they have more context already available so there is more to draw on (automatically) when solving problems or learning. So less distance to get there.

You probably aren't any slower. One difference that I think I've noticed between older and younger devs is that older ones tend to be slower to actually write code than younger ones are. But the code they write tends to be closer to correct, so less time is needed refining and debugging it.

So it can look slower up front, but over the span of the entire task, it's faster.

Constantly needing to “feel productive” after work by limiting hobbies is also enough to drive you crazy after awhile, unless it’s of real personal interest of course and not just to advance your career.

Funny timing, I was just discussing with a friend that I can palpably feel a slight loss of edge, I know sometimes that I'm working through something with a little less raw horsepower, and I still wouldn't trade away the experience advantage for anything.

It feels like a shift slightly away from "build the thing right" and toward "build the right thing". There's no sense racing to a destination that we don't want to arrive at in the first place.

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