4 ms·

I am 33, and I have paid a lot of anecdotal attention to what seems to keep my brain fresh, i.e. able to still learn new skills at a rapid clip. Just by way of

by kevmo 9y ago

I am 33, and I have paid a lot of anecdotal attention to what seems to keep my brain fresh, i.e. able to still learn new skills at a rapid clip. Just by way of credentials: I was a successful lawyer for a few years of my 20s (rising to level of federal law clerk), but then taught myself to program and have been working as a professional programmer since shortly before my 30th birthday. Even though I am on the older side of the programmer market, my career has been great, and I've been able to rapidly rise in the ranks. I also know a fair amount about design and business strategy now. The secret seems to be: Practice. If you want to be able to do new things, you need to always be doing new things. I am always trying to learn something new - mentally and physically. For example, I am very right-side dominant in my body, but I have lately been trying to open more doors with my left hand, throw stuff at the trashcan with it, etc. Always be doing at least one new thing in your life if you want to be doing new things for the rest of your life. It is OK to fail at a new thing! You just have to admit failure, pat yourself on the back for your courage, take stock of what went right and wrong, then pick a new new thing to do. Relatedly, I have noticed that some people who I considered much smarter than me as a teenager often no longer appear to be, and I believe it is because they stopped trying to grow new types of skills and thus let their brains stagnate. It is hard to do unfamiliar things, but so worth it.

wavefunction 9y ago
You're 33, you're not on the 'older side of the programmer market.' If anyone tells you that, I suggest you take a long hard look at who they actually are.
- kevmo 9y ago
  When I was a junior programmer at 30, it sure felt like I was on the older side. :) It's a separate subject, but there is a lot of age bias in the field.
  - Cerium 9y ago
    I guess you have to be in the right place. I'm 28, and the most junior person on my team by at least 5 years in age and 8 in experience. It is great, since I have so many people to learn from.
    - joncampbelldev 9y ago
      I'm 28 and I wish I were the most junior on the dev team. Being a "lead" developer is fun, but I wish I had more people who I can actively learn from just by being around.
      - pc86 9y ago
        There are plenty of places where the "senior" developers have more than 5-6 years of experience.
      - konschubert 9y ago
        I know how you feel. I'm 26.
- pcurve 9y ago
  Very true. I work at Fortune xx company and there are literally hundreds of developers in their 50s and early 60s. (ones older just retire). Many of them are head down workers reporting into managers who are 10-15 years younger (who probably don't make any more)
- slavik81 9y ago
  Do you have a source for that? As far as I can piece together by going through the 2016 and 2017 StackOverflow developer surveys, the median professional developer appears to be ~30yo, with ~8 years professional experience.
  - wavefunction 9y ago
    Don't you think there might be some implicit bias relying solely on a StackOverflow survey? My source is that I know plenty of developers working in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60, which is anecdotal for you but reality for me.
DamonHD 9y ago
You kids today! I just turned 50! B^> Yes, always be trying to do at least one new thing. At the moment I'm on a new old thing, enhancing a Web site with very slightly more daring CSS, and also getting better performance from my solar-powered RPi2 than I seem to be able to get from CloudFlare's state-of-the art monster operation! B^>
kirse 9y ago
learn new skills at a rapid clip The secret is definitely to practice, I've found an even bigger shortcut is to convince/pay/beg an expert to be your coach or mentor. And once they are your coach, demonstrate that you respect their feedback by obeying when they tell you to update your approach. As they say, perfect practice makes perfect.
Allower 9y ago
Why do people seem to think failure is ok? its not. its fucking failure.
chousuke 9y ago
I'm 31, and I started learning to draw a bit over a month ago. Progress is slow, but it's been visible. The kicker was when I realized that talent doesn't really exist; talent is built. The sort of people who are "naturally" talented at drawing and arts are likely to be people who are naturally more intuitive (rather than analytical) and will spend lots of time just grinding away at things instead of trying to understand them intellectually until they don't need to understand it anymore. Sort of like a physically fit person would just climb over an obstacle while an analytical but untrained person might get stuck trying to figure out a "smart" solution. I consider myself much more of an analytical person, which is partly why I am learning to draw. I want to strengthen my intuitive side as well. It doesn't hurt that the theory of drawing (which includes the physics of light, human psychology and understanding of form) is actually quite interesting. Practicing my muscle memory today also lead to a small epiphany when I realized that instead of focusing on making an ellipsis with my pen, I have to focus on my shoulder muscles and get them to move my arm elliptically and drawing then simply happens. If you're interested in learning to draw yourself, check out drawabox.com
- kevmo 9y ago
  They say every cartoonist has 200 bad pages in them. Best to get through those first 200 ASAP. (source: my girlfriend is a cartoonist)
- billti 9y ago
  That's an interesting theory. I've always played a lot of pool, and am good at math/geometry. Yet when I over-analyze a shot and think about what I'm about to attempt, I miss far more often than if I just rely on muscle memory/pattern recognition and take the shot without too much thought. I think the understanding of angles, intersection points, transfer of energy, etc. helped me practice as a novice (as well as helped me stay interested). But to get really "good" at something, you need to work at it until most of the skills involved are almost subconscious. (Which aligns somewhat with what I recall from "Thinking fast and slow", which I thought was a great book).
  - matt_j 9y ago
jbreckmckye 9y ago
I'm 30 and a senior developer. But I started out with an English degree and had planned to be an academic. In the intervening years I have been a technical writer, a business analyst, a QA and even had a ill-judged stint as a recruiter. Oh, and I was a UX designer for a year, albeit not a very good one. Now I am thinking of becoming a lawyer or civil servant, but worry that I may no longer be mentally agile enough to learn a new skillset. So I'm very glad to read this article! Incidentally, as someone heading the opposite way to yourself, do you have any advice / warnings for a developer thinking about law?
- randcraw 9y ago
  I know little about the career of law, but at age 60 I know something about seeking change. My advice: make sure you are shooting at a real target (a specific job that already exists) and not just in the general direction of a job title that sounds attractive. Many attorneys seem to find that their abstract / academic "love of the law" doesn't translate into a tangible form that they can live with day to day. Many physicians discover the same thing -- the daily practice of medicine is not as charming as their inchoate notion of "healing the sick" suggested. Concretely, after working in software for 30+ years, I'm grateful every day that the field is big enough that it let me evolve from one domain to another, and explore multiple skills and interests over the years. If I'd been trained only narrowly, perhaps as a PhD virologist, I doubt I would have been pleased at the slim variety of work opportunities that I was prepared to pursue.
  - jbreckmckye 9y ago
    You touch on a real concern and I'm not going to make any moves until I can put it to bed. Law would be a huge investment and I need confidence I could be happy in a variety of legal careers. That being said, my motive has always been the work rather than the domain. Of course, law is very prestigious and sounds very impressive, but what really draws me is the chance to research, think and write in a way I haven't since university. I originally wanted to be an academic, but the conditions and the realities of the work are quite depressing. Programming pays well, and I think I'm good at it, but my real skills are more verbal. I actually quite like the idea of combing through complex documents and trying to judge what's truly salient. For whatever reason it just seems my brain is wired to enjoy that kind of work. It's the same kick I got from literary criticism, poring over texts and slowly building an argument from a mass of details. It's a hunch, anyway. Would you suggest any ways to validate it?

by kevmo 9y ago

wavefunction 9y ago

You're 33, you're not on the 'older side of the programmer market.' If anyone tells you that, I suggest you take a long hard look at who they actually are.

kevmo 9y ago
When I was a junior programmer at 30, it sure felt like I was on the older side. :) It's a separate subject, but there is a lot of age bias in the field.
- Cerium 9y ago
  I guess you have to be in the right place. I'm 28, and the most junior person on my team by at least 5 years in age and 8 in experience. It is great, since I have so many people to learn from.
  - joncampbelldev 9y ago
    I'm 28 and I wish I were the most junior on the dev team. Being a "lead" developer is fun, but I wish I had more people who I can actively learn from just by being around.
    - pc86 9y ago
      There are plenty of places where the "senior" developers have more than 5-6 years of experience.
    - konschubert 9y ago
      I know how you feel. I'm 26.
pcurve 9y ago
Very true. I work at Fortune xx company and there are literally hundreds of developers in their 50s and early 60s. (ones older just retire). Many of them are head down workers reporting into managers who are 10-15 years younger (who probably don't make any more)
slavik81 9y ago
Do you have a source for that? As far as I can piece together by going through the 2016 and 2017 StackOverflow developer surveys, the median professional developer appears to be ~30yo, with ~8 years professional experience.
- wavefunction 9y ago
  Don't you think there might be some implicit bias relying solely on a StackOverflow survey? My source is that I know plenty of developers working in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60, which is anecdotal for you but reality for me.

DamonHD 9y ago

You kids today! I just turned 50! B^> Yes, always be trying to do at least one new thing. At the moment I'm on a new old thing, enhancing a Web site with very slightly more daring CSS, and also getting better performance from my solar-powered RPi2 than I seem to be able to get from CloudFlare's state-of-the art monster operation! B^>

kirse 9y ago

learn new skills at a rapid clip The secret is definitely to practice, I've found an even bigger shortcut is to convince/pay/beg an expert to be your coach or mentor. And once they are your coach, demonstrate that you respect their feedback by obeying when they tell you to update your approach. As they say, perfect practice makes perfect.

Allower 9y ago

Why do people seem to think failure is ok? its not. its fucking failure.

chousuke 9y ago

I'm 31, and I started learning to draw a bit over a month ago. Progress is slow, but it's been visible. The kicker was when I realized that talent doesn't really exist; talent is built. The sort of people who are "naturally" talented at drawing and arts are likely to be people who are naturally more intuitive (rather than analytical) and will spend lots of time just grinding away at things instead of trying to understand them intellectually until they don't need to understand it anymore. Sort of like a physically fit person would just climb over an obstacle while an analytical but untrained person might get stuck trying to figure out a "smart" solution. I consider myself much more of an analytical person, which is partly why I am learning to draw. I want to strengthen my intuitive side as well. It doesn't hurt that the theory of drawing (which includes the physics of light, human psychology and understanding of form) is actually quite interesting. Practicing my muscle memory today also lead to a small epiphany when I realized that instead of focusing on making an ellipsis with my pen, I have to focus on my shoulder muscles and get them to move my arm elliptically and drawing then simply happens. If you're interested in learning to draw yourself, check out drawabox.com

kevmo 9y ago
They say every cartoonist has 200 bad pages in them. Best to get through those first 200 ASAP. (source: my girlfriend is a cartoonist)
billti 9y ago
That's an interesting theory. I've always played a lot of pool, and am good at math/geometry. Yet when I over-analyze a shot and think about what I'm about to attempt, I miss far more often than if I just rely on muscle memory/pattern recognition and take the shot without too much thought. I think the understanding of angles, intersection points, transfer of energy, etc. helped me practice as a novice (as well as helped me stay interested). But to get really "good" at something, you need to work at it until most of the skills involved are almost subconscious. (Which aligns somewhat with what I recall from "Thinking fast and slow", which I thought was a great book).
- matt_j 9y ago

jbreckmckye 9y ago

I'm 30 and a senior developer. But I started out with an English degree and had planned to be an academic. In the intervening years I have been a technical writer, a business analyst, a QA and even had a ill-judged stint as a recruiter. Oh, and I was a UX designer for a year, albeit not a very good one. Now I am thinking of becoming a lawyer or civil servant, but worry that I may no longer be mentally agile enough to learn a new skillset. So I'm very glad to read this article! Incidentally, as someone heading the opposite way to yourself, do you have any advice / warnings for a developer thinking about law?

randcraw 9y ago
I know little about the career of law, but at age 60 I know something about seeking change. My advice: make sure you are shooting at a real target (a specific job that already exists) and not just in the general direction of a job title that sounds attractive. Many attorneys seem to find that their abstract / academic "love of the law" doesn't translate into a tangible form that they can live with day to day. Many physicians discover the same thing -- the daily practice of medicine is not as charming as their inchoate notion of "healing the sick" suggested. Concretely, after working in software for 30+ years, I'm grateful every day that the field is big enough that it let me evolve from one domain to another, and explore multiple skills and interests over the years. If I'd been trained only narrowly, perhaps as a PhD virologist, I doubt I would have been pleased at the slim variety of work opportunities that I was prepared to pursue.
- jbreckmckye 9y ago
  You touch on a real concern and I'm not going to make any moves until I can put it to bed. Law would be a huge investment and I need confidence I could be happy in a variety of legal careers. That being said, my motive has always been the work rather than the domain. Of course, law is very prestigious and sounds very impressive, but what really draws me is the chance to research, think and write in a way I haven't since university. I originally wanted to be an academic, but the conditions and the realities of the work are quite depressing. Programming pays well, and I think I'm good at it, but my real skills are more verbal. I actually quite like the idea of combing through complex documents and trying to judge what's truly salient. For whatever reason it just seems my brain is wired to enjoy that kind of work. It's the same kick I got from literary criticism, poring over texts and slowly building an argument from a mass of details. It's a hunch, anyway. Would you suggest any ways to validate it?