Programming ability over age [modified]
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Fades. Geez, I wish. In my case it up and disappears. :)
Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar] In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. [Yogi Berra]
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When you get to forty you will need a big signs “To The Bathroom=>” in your apartment. :-D
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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Makes one wonder what humans could achieve if our brains developed over millennia rather than decades.
The book of Genesis (The Bible) says that people used to live for hundreds of years. The oldest guy to ever live was over 900 years old (Methuselah was his name). God decided that this was not good because man became increasingly smart over time and could do just about anything he wanted. Because of this he decided to shorten our life cycle to only 100 years. Check it out, it's interesting reading!
-------------------------------------------- Give me ambiguity or give me something else!
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Years back someone posted an article here (I can't find it now) which claimed that middle-aged programmers (40-68) are not expected to be as good as their non middle aged counter parts. Any link to original article will be appreciated? I did Google fir it but could not find that exact article. These days, I am reading this book: The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain: The Surprising Talents of the Middle-Aged Mind[^]. This was one of the popular books on Brain - a topic of my interest. The books cites several research studies citing that some faculties of brain actually improve in the middle age. One such thing is problem solving - which is what programming all about. Things such as ability to recognize and make sense complex patterns also improves - which again a common thing in programming. Another faculty that is expected to grow is the ability to comprehend the whole (system architecture). So what it should imply is that programming as a skill should improve with age. . Is that what happens in the real world? In my case at least, though I have yet to hit middle age, I can see that I have improved in lot of areas but I do not know whether it is due to accumulation of learning over the years or due to development of brain.
modified on Thursday, June 10, 2010 3:02 PM
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Chris Meech wrote:
The real problem is that when I get to work in the morning, I can't remember what the heck I was working on yesterday.
Yes, the book talks about that too. The ability to remember things fades (which is obvious).
Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:
The ability to remember things fades (which is obvious).
But one learns effective note-taking over time. For me, I'm a better programmer than any of my younger colleagues, mainly due to all the code I've seen and written. That's not to say I'm better in every way. As usual, there are people with more programming talent around me.
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Years back someone posted an article here (I can't find it now) which claimed that middle-aged programmers (40-68) are not expected to be as good as their non middle aged counter parts. Any link to original article will be appreciated? I did Google fir it but could not find that exact article. These days, I am reading this book: The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain: The Surprising Talents of the Middle-Aged Mind[^]. This was one of the popular books on Brain - a topic of my interest. The books cites several research studies citing that some faculties of brain actually improve in the middle age. One such thing is problem solving - which is what programming all about. Things such as ability to recognize and make sense complex patterns also improves - which again a common thing in programming. Another faculty that is expected to grow is the ability to comprehend the whole (system architecture). So what it should imply is that programming as a skill should improve with age. . Is that what happens in the real world? In my case at least, though I have yet to hit middle age, I can see that I have improved in lot of areas but I do not know whether it is due to accumulation of learning over the years or due to development of brain.
modified on Thursday, June 10, 2010 3:02 PM
It's been scientifically proven that the more you stretch your brain the better you become at learning and the sharper your mind becomes regardless of age. Even if it's simple things, just as long it's not the same routine. Routine KILLS the brain. Always trying different things, keeping things new and fresh. Age is not a major factor in this.
-------------------------------------------- Give me ambiguity or give me something else!
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Years back someone posted an article here (I can't find it now) which claimed that middle-aged programmers (40-68) are not expected to be as good as their non middle aged counter parts. Any link to original article will be appreciated? I did Google fir it but could not find that exact article. These days, I am reading this book: The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain: The Surprising Talents of the Middle-Aged Mind[^]. This was one of the popular books on Brain - a topic of my interest. The books cites several research studies citing that some faculties of brain actually improve in the middle age. One such thing is problem solving - which is what programming all about. Things such as ability to recognize and make sense complex patterns also improves - which again a common thing in programming. Another faculty that is expected to grow is the ability to comprehend the whole (system architecture). So what it should imply is that programming as a skill should improve with age. . Is that what happens in the real world? In my case at least, though I have yet to hit middle age, I can see that I have improved in lot of areas but I do not know whether it is due to accumulation of learning over the years or due to development of brain.
modified on Thursday, June 10, 2010 3:02 PM
I'm in that old person category. I think some of the "as good as" depends on one's interest and ability to learn new things. I know younger people still hugging old C syntax, whereas I've been figuring out Java and C# on my own time. This old dog wants to remain employable. I also have known younger people without the experience of how to tackle a problem, or how to prevent a problem, whereas I've seen plenty over the years...
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Years back someone posted an article here (I can't find it now) which claimed that middle-aged programmers (40-68) are not expected to be as good as their non middle aged counter parts. Any link to original article will be appreciated? I did Google fir it but could not find that exact article. These days, I am reading this book: The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain: The Surprising Talents of the Middle-Aged Mind[^]. This was one of the popular books on Brain - a topic of my interest. The books cites several research studies citing that some faculties of brain actually improve in the middle age. One such thing is problem solving - which is what programming all about. Things such as ability to recognize and make sense complex patterns also improves - which again a common thing in programming. Another faculty that is expected to grow is the ability to comprehend the whole (system architecture). So what it should imply is that programming as a skill should improve with age. . Is that what happens in the real world? In my case at least, though I have yet to hit middle age, I can see that I have improved in lot of areas but I do not know whether it is due to accumulation of learning over the years or due to development of brain.
modified on Thursday, June 10, 2010 3:02 PM
Instead of discussing the problem, everybody discuss ipad and kindle? When I was about 50 (long ago), I could not get a job in one of fields I used to work before, so I had to change my field - and became a programmer. I'm still in middle-age and can see my programming skills improve with age(or with learning new technologies, with more experience - who can distinguish?), but I don't feel my ability to generate ideas is that good as before - it is difficult to say if this because of age, occupation, work environment or other circumstances. Routine skills in design, development and coding are necessary for software projects, but cannot ensure much progress in technology without sharp new ideas, so idea generation is the most important criteria of brain quality. My best ideas appeared when I was 20-35.
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Years back someone posted an article here (I can't find it now) which claimed that middle-aged programmers (40-68) are not expected to be as good as their non middle aged counter parts. Any link to original article will be appreciated? I did Google fir it but could not find that exact article. These days, I am reading this book: The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain: The Surprising Talents of the Middle-Aged Mind[^]. This was one of the popular books on Brain - a topic of my interest. The books cites several research studies citing that some faculties of brain actually improve in the middle age. One such thing is problem solving - which is what programming all about. Things such as ability to recognize and make sense complex patterns also improves - which again a common thing in programming. Another faculty that is expected to grow is the ability to comprehend the whole (system architecture). So what it should imply is that programming as a skill should improve with age. . Is that what happens in the real world? In my case at least, though I have yet to hit middle age, I can see that I have improved in lot of areas but I do not know whether it is due to accumulation of learning over the years or due to development of brain.
modified on Thursday, June 10, 2010 3:02 PM
I was reading something several weeks back that implied, with age, most people make more correct decisions (probably due to experience) than younger people with the same skill sets.
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Years back someone posted an article here (I can't find it now) which claimed that middle-aged programmers (40-68) are not expected to be as good as their non middle aged counter parts. Any link to original article will be appreciated? I did Google fir it but could not find that exact article. These days, I am reading this book: The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain: The Surprising Talents of the Middle-Aged Mind[^]. This was one of the popular books on Brain - a topic of my interest. The books cites several research studies citing that some faculties of brain actually improve in the middle age. One such thing is problem solving - which is what programming all about. Things such as ability to recognize and make sense complex patterns also improves - which again a common thing in programming. Another faculty that is expected to grow is the ability to comprehend the whole (system architecture). So what it should imply is that programming as a skill should improve with age. . Is that what happens in the real world? In my case at least, though I have yet to hit middle age, I can see that I have improved in lot of areas but I do not know whether it is due to accumulation of learning over the years or due to development of brain.
modified on Thursday, June 10, 2010 3:02 PM
It is easy to see how ones skills could stagnate. The antidote would seem to be a matter of continually pressing forward, renewing ones interests, facing new challenges and never staying comfortable in a certain domain. It would be easy to say that "non middle aged counter parts" seem superior if they are writing things that you don't have a clue about how to even start. Take the case of writing simulations versus writing payroll and billing, as an example. Ask the "counter part" to write the AR program and see how far the genetics visualization program writer gets before becoming brain-dead, just like me. :) I think skill does improve with age, but only specifically, within a problem area and not broadly. The secret is to stretch a little every day, even if there is no immediate payoff or particular relevance to your load...your brain is just another muscle, using my viewpoint, it needs to be exercised to keep it strong and flexible.
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That is way cool. So as the old brain cells die off, and new ones are regenerated, the genetic code is inherited and so you'll always remember were the vodka is. I love it. :)
Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar] In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. [Yogi Berra]
I used to say that drinking was to the brain like lions to the zebras... The Zebras move at the speed of its lowest member... so lions kill the ones left behind... so the group gets faster!!! The same with drinking... its kills the slowest and weakest brain cells... so the brain gets faster!! :)
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Years back someone posted an article here (I can't find it now) which claimed that middle-aged programmers (40-68) are not expected to be as good as their non middle aged counter parts. Any link to original article will be appreciated? I did Google fir it but could not find that exact article. These days, I am reading this book: The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain: The Surprising Talents of the Middle-Aged Mind[^]. This was one of the popular books on Brain - a topic of my interest. The books cites several research studies citing that some faculties of brain actually improve in the middle age. One such thing is problem solving - which is what programming all about. Things such as ability to recognize and make sense complex patterns also improves - which again a common thing in programming. Another faculty that is expected to grow is the ability to comprehend the whole (system architecture). So what it should imply is that programming as a skill should improve with age. . Is that what happens in the real world? In my case at least, though I have yet to hit middle age, I can see that I have improved in lot of areas but I do not know whether it is due to accumulation of learning over the years or due to development of brain.
modified on Thursday, June 10, 2010 3:02 PM
I'm getting up there (57) and I can safely say that I'm a better programmer I've ever been before. There are a lot of factors besides problem solving abilities, though. The foundations are always shifting, and the biggest part of the art is learning to work with constructs that other people have created for you to build your work upon. That requires a never ending willingness to take in mountains of new info, much of which seems rather arbitrary. You're basically trying to figure out what some other person had in mind when they laid that foundation. Hopefully they thought through what they were doing and left enough information behind to make it useable (questionable much of the time!) That's probably the roughest part of programming as one gets older - it does get wearysome having to learn to do essentially the same thing a different way for the hundredth time. I guess you're supposed to be in management by this age, but I still prefer it in the trenches.
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The book of Genesis (The Bible) says that people used to live for hundreds of years. The oldest guy to ever live was over 900 years old (Methuselah was his name). God decided that this was not good because man became increasingly smart over time and could do just about anything he wanted. Because of this he decided to shorten our life cycle to only 100 years. Check it out, it's interesting reading!
-------------------------------------------- Give me ambiguity or give me something else!
Hardly a scientific basis for our understanding of learning though.
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Years back someone posted an article here (I can't find it now) which claimed that middle-aged programmers (40-68) are not expected to be as good as their non middle aged counter parts. Any link to original article will be appreciated? I did Google fir it but could not find that exact article. These days, I am reading this book: The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain: The Surprising Talents of the Middle-Aged Mind[^]. This was one of the popular books on Brain - a topic of my interest. The books cites several research studies citing that some faculties of brain actually improve in the middle age. One such thing is problem solving - which is what programming all about. Things such as ability to recognize and make sense complex patterns also improves - which again a common thing in programming. Another faculty that is expected to grow is the ability to comprehend the whole (system architecture). So what it should imply is that programming as a skill should improve with age. . Is that what happens in the real world? In my case at least, though I have yet to hit middle age, I can see that I have improved in lot of areas but I do not know whether it is due to accumulation of learning over the years or due to development of brain.
modified on Thursday, June 10, 2010 3:02 PM
I've been programming for over 30 years, sd here is my 2 cents: The bottom line is that it depends on the programmer. There are not two of us alike. If they stay active in current technology, then the bredth of their experiences in different areas will make it easier to solve complex proplem, because they have learned to overcome similar issues in previous encounters. Thus, us old fogies make good software architects which is my current title. All to often, by the time we reach our 50's we have either burned out trying to keep up, or gone on to management. Managers don't have a prayer of staying current on the technology like someone that eats it for breakfast lunch and dinner, so they quickly fall behind the curve. New programmers bring a zeal for technology and the energy to work those 80 hour weeks. They soak up new information like a sponge and so are much more able to handle what ever come their way. While us older folks have learned first hand what kind of damage 80 hour weeks can do to your life in general and prefer positions that do have that requirement. If I had to do it all over again I would choose the slower career growth working only 40 hour weeks and enjoy my family more. I can get a new career, but family casn not be replaced.