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  3. Are we too old?

Are we too old?

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  • S Slacker007

    Mobile is real. If you are over 35, you are too old for this industry. Try having fun instead of killing yourself, "trying" to keep up with those that are younger, smarter, and require less sleep then you do. Yes, we are wise, but that really doesn't mean shit, now does it?

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    Tomaz Stih 0
    wrote on last edited by
    #35

    Not really. There are two industries inside our industry. One is a lottery and the other one is knowledge based. Lottery are shining web thingies and mobile apps. Products that, given sufficient supply of coke, coffee, and weeks, can be replicated by any group of students, anywhere. It's a lottery because you have to be on the right place in the right time to succeed. There is only one Twitter, even if the underlying app is less than impressive. Its capital today is the content crowd, not the app. And than there are things that random groups of students can't replicate. In years. Because they are just too hard. Like DBMS servers, rockets, self-driving cars, pacemakers, etc. Hence ... if you want a long lasting career in programming ... you have to grow out of the lottery stuff. My 0.05£.

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    • S Slacker007

      Mobile is real. If you are over 35, you are too old for this industry. Try having fun instead of killing yourself, "trying" to keep up with those that are younger, smarter, and require less sleep then you do. Yes, we are wise, but that really doesn't mean shit, now does it?

      G Offline
      G Offline
      Gary Wheeler
      wrote on last edited by
      #36

      Slacker007 wrote:

      If you are over 35, you are too old for this industry

      Agist prick.

      Software Zen: delete this;

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      • Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter

        1. Desktop 2. Mobile (-46) 3. Mainframe (-14) Does it mean we are an old community, or that all the hype over mobile not real?

        Skipper: We'll fix it. Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this? Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.

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        MikeD 2
        wrote on last edited by
        #37

        Think I am too old to understand the question.... what do the points 1, 2, 3 mean?

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        • G Gary Wheeler

          Slacker007 wrote:

          If you are over 35, you are too old for this industry

          Agist prick.

          Software Zen: delete this;

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          M Offline
          MKJCP
          wrote on last edited by
          #38

          Reminds me of this quote. "To be old and wise, you must first be young and stupid."

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          • M MKJCP

            Reminds me of this quote. "To be old and wise, you must first be young and stupid."

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            G Offline
            Gary Wheeler
            wrote on last edited by
            #39

            I like that. I was once young and stupid and full of myself. At my current age, two out of three ain't bad. I was going to use the old standard, "age and treachery overcomes youth and skill", but I thought simpler was better.

            Software Zen: delete this;

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            • G Gary Wheeler

              I like that. I was once young and stupid and full of myself. At my current age, two out of three ain't bad. I was going to use the old standard, "age and treachery overcomes youth and skill", but I thought simpler was better.

              Software Zen: delete this;

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              M Offline
              MKJCP
              wrote on last edited by
              #40

              Somehow, I hadn't heard that one. Nice. I am getting older and wiser as "we speak".

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              • M MKJCP

                Somehow, I hadn't heard that one. Nice. I am getting older and wiser as "we speak".

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                G Offline
                Gary Wheeler
                wrote on last edited by
                #41

                I couldn't find an attribution for it; it seems to have been around for quite a while.

                Software Zen: delete this;

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                • G Gary Wheeler

                  I couldn't find an attribution for it; it seems to have been around for quite a while.

                  Software Zen: delete this;

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                  M Offline
                  MKJCP
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #42

                  Sounds like a Roman politician could have said it once. In Latin, of course.

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                  • M MKJCP

                    Sounds like a Roman politician could have said it once. In Latin, of course.

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                    G Offline
                    Gary Wheeler
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #43

                    Courtesy of Google Translate: "fraudis solertia vincit aetate iuventus".

                    Software Zen: delete this;

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                    • G Gary Wheeler

                      Courtesy of Google Translate: "fraudis solertia vincit aetate iuventus".

                      Software Zen: delete this;

                      M Offline
                      M Offline
                      MKJCP
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #44

                      :thumbsup::thumbsup:

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                      • Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter

                        1. Desktop 2. Mobile (-46) 3. Mainframe (-14) Does it mean we are an old community, or that all the hype over mobile not real?

                        Skipper: We'll fix it. Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this? Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.

                        T Offline
                        T Offline
                        trantrum
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #45

                        I'm 74 and I just retired last year. I was 40 when I started. And I've done very well financially.

                        Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK 1 Reply Last reply
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                        • T trantrum

                          I'm 74 and I just retired last year. I was 40 when I started. And I've done very well financially.

                          Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Offline
                          Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Offline
                          Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #46

                          At 40 today you should have a hard time to find job...

                          Skipper: We'll fix it. Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this? Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.

                          "It never ceases to amaze me that a spacecraft launched in 1977 can be fixed remotely from Earth." ― Brian Cox

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                          • Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter

                            1. Desktop 2. Mobile (-46) 3. Mainframe (-14) Does it mean we are an old community, or that all the hype over mobile not real?

                            Skipper: We'll fix it. Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this? Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.

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                            V Offline
                            VE2
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #47

                            Made a living programming for 33 years - punch cards, Fortran, CDC, Cray, custom devices, Unix, C; retired 22 years ago. Now I code for my own amusement in C# on my windows desktop (most recently toying with the 9 square illusion) Am I too old? Yes, I am. Too difficult for my tired old eyes to spend a lot of time squinting at Mobile devices. But at 75 I still read Codeproject news!

                            73

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                            • S Slacker007

                              Mobile is real. If you are over 35, you are too old for this industry. Try having fun instead of killing yourself, "trying" to keep up with those that are younger, smarter, and require less sleep then you do. Yes, we are wise, but that really doesn't mean shit, now does it?

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                              MSBassSinger
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #48

                              Keep up with the under-35 crowd in software development? At 63, I still run rings around them.

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                              • S Slacker007

                                Mobile is real. If you are over 35, you are too old for this industry. Try having fun instead of killing yourself, "trying" to keep up with those that are younger, smarter, and require less sleep then you do. Yes, we are wise, but that really doesn't mean shit, now does it?

                                G Offline
                                G Offline
                                Gary Huck
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #49

                                How many trips have you made around the Sun?

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                                • M MSBassSinger

                                  Keep up with the under-35 crowd in software development? At 63, I still run rings around them.

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                                  Slacker007
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #50

                                  Sure you do. :~

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                                  • S Slacker007

                                    Mobile is real. If you are over 35, you are too old for this industry. Try having fun instead of killing yourself, "trying" to keep up with those that are younger, smarter, and require less sleep then you do. Yes, we are wise, but that really doesn't mean shit, now does it?

                                    M Offline
                                    M Offline
                                    molesworth
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #51

                                    Nonsense! I know a lot of people working on mobile development (mostly games) and at least half of them are over 35. It's not all about "crunch", although that was one of the reasons I got out of games dev* (in my 50's). And it's most definitely not the case that younger means smarter, especially when it comes to doing clever optimisations to squeeze out the last bit of performance or to reduce memory usage. [ * when I say out, I mean professionally - I still do indy development at home, including mobile stuff... ]

                                    Days spent at sea are not deducted from one's alloted span - Phoenician proverb

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                                    • S Slacker007

                                      Sure you do. :~

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                                      MSBassSinger
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #52

                                      Most, but not all, of the 35 and under developers I know are great at memorizing and churning out code. But often with little thought to how manageable the code is, how brittle it is, or how OO it is. There is so much more to software development than coding, though coding well is definitely a must at any age. What I notice lacking the most is the ability to see, design, and code efficient, reusable, maintainable solutions to the business goals in a given software project. Just code something quick and dirty, throw it out there, hope it passes QA, and then hope you have moved on before the hack you did becomes a maintenance or extension problem. That seems to be a common problem with the 35 and under developers. But fortunately, not all.

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                                      • S Slacker007

                                        Mobile is real. If you are over 35, you are too old for this industry. Try having fun instead of killing yourself, "trying" to keep up with those that are younger, smarter, and require less sleep then you do. Yes, we are wise, but that really doesn't mean shit, now does it?

                                        S Offline
                                        S Offline
                                        SeattleC
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #53

                                        Wow, someone's got up on the wrong side of bed. * Starting wages have risen faster than top wages, so your young colleagues make as much as you did with 5 years' experience. * The more senior you get, the higher the expectations, not just in terms of experience, but in terms of IQ. Companies try hard not to hire senior people unless they are unicorns. * Companies don't want to spend money on training. They you will get the hint and leave, once your skills need an update. This is what causes the developer shortage. Sigh. So yeah, I guess I did too.

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                                        • L Lost User

                                          You don't know what old is. I learned to program my first computer in 1966, pure machine code keyed in instruction by instruction on the front panel.

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                                          PNutHed
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #54

                                          I can't make a claim that far back but I can say my first professional software was in COBOL on punched cards. My debugger was about 6-8 inches above my shoulders. Today I work embedded C and love every minute, even the crunches. I cringe at these new wonder tools that crop up about once a week that do everything that once required discipline. I imagine these are for kids who need to keep one eye on their phone. Where will you be when something goes wrong or when that tool isn't there? "Never happen", the young one will say with complete confidence and unearned arrogance. Youth is wasted on the young.

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