Ask HN: Programmer's Best Years
Question for older guys here - at what age were you at your best ?
Not necessary in terms of career progression, more in terms of your craft.
Not necessary in terms of career progression, more in terms of your craft.
I think that in some ways I've been lucky as I started back when you could hold the entire knowledge of how your computer works in your head backed up by a single manual (seriously the old manuals for 8bit computers were some of the best documentation that I've ever seen).
That knowledge was then built upon bit by bit as the technology advanced. So I've never been overwhelmed by the mass of information that someone starting today would need to get their heads round (Respect to those who have started to learn their craft in the last 5 years and have a deep understanding of how everything fits together).
Yeah, that's a great point. We were lucky to have already had a built-up knowledge of the "basics" by the time the complexity started to ramp exponentially.
It's one thing to have had years to learn basic mouse clicks, internet usage, BASIC, etc. and then to gradually have new techs spring up around you, one at a time. There were entire years (maybe half decades) where the most exciting buzz was peer-to-peer file-sharing, lol, something we just take for granted now.
I can't imagine what it'd be like to be born into a world where magic algorithms can already program better than most people, in ways we don't fully understand, while being bombarded by misinformation and advertising 24x7x365. You're overwhelmed from the day you're born =/
But humans are adaptable... the kids probably laugh at us old fogeys and wonder how we weren't bored with such simple techs :) This is all they've ever known.
But I didn't learn Javascript till my 30s, and then transitioned into that as my full time job after a couple years.
My more recent jobs have become a lot easier and more relaxed, mostly just riding off what I had learned from earlier years.
That also means I'm way behind the curve now, and will probably be completely obsolete in a couple more years. I don't have the same interest in learning yet another language or framework as I once did. The industry has no use for tired old men like me who don't know anything about AI, lol.
People like Linus are the exception rather than the rule, I think. Stallman maybe even more so? Sometimes I envy them, and sometimes I wonder how happy and balanced the rest of their lives are (maybe they're perfectly happy? I have no idea).