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That begs the question then, what happens to these early-20s geniuses once they are late 20s/30s?

scalesolved 8y ago
Whilst half joking I've had children around this age and I don' claim to be a genius but the time afforded to technical exploration and learning has dropped significantly while they are young.
scrollaway 8y ago
Well, one of them now works at Facebook, another at Google, another at Amazon. The youngest one is still at a smaller company but I suspect he'll end up finding a job at a Big Five or some such. To answer your question, they get swallowed. Google etc hoard talent, and those that can fake it. I don't know if that's good, but they definitely end up with resources to produce incredible things. Then again what would they do alone, I wonder.
rotten 8y ago
Life gets in the way for a while: Kids. Spouse/partner. House. Hobbies. Cynicism. Burnout. Health. Elder care. Then things settle. You work through the life thing, and in your 50's you get a fresh perspective and new energy.
- ryandrake 8y ago
  All of the above, plus, at most (non-FAANG) tech companies, as an individual contributor your salary will plateau when you’re around 30-35. During your 20s you’ll get used to double digit pay raises and then all of a sudden that will stop. Even changing jobs won’t give you more than a 1-2% bump as some point. I’ve had that surreal “we really want you to stay but we can’t give you a raise” conversation too many times in my career.
  - SimonPStevens 8y ago
    Yes, this. So then those young brilliant individuals move into management because it's the only way to continue some semblance of career progression in your 30s. Then a subset of the gifted technical individuals grow tired of management, step down and go back to the tech to do what they really loved all along. I've met a fair amount of brilliant engineers in their 40s/50s who have been through management and decided it's not for them and are now shining as engineers again after a decade lost to leadership roles
- imhoguy 8y ago
  I would also add massive family debt/mortgage to this list. I saw so many star engineers fear-driven and stagnating in their tiny comfort zones to the burn-out or layoff.
kamaal 8y ago
Genius isn't a static quality. These things come with expiry dates. Learning is the key to flying high when it comes to a knowledge intensive career like programming. Its hard to do that a while. Also early 20's you just exit teenage, and a have degree of naivety and foolishness. That spark goes with time. And you become more intelligent, calculative and serious to stop experimenting the way you are before. But mostly, they stop learning. That's what causes the downfall.

Whilst half joking I've had children around this age and I don' claim to be a genius but the time afforded to technical exploration and learning has dropped significantly while they are young.

scrollaway 8y ago

Well, one of them now works at Facebook, another at Google, another at Amazon. The youngest one is still at a smaller company but I suspect he'll end up finding a job at a Big Five or some such. To answer your question, they get swallowed. Google etc hoard talent, and those that can fake it. I don't know if that's good, but they definitely end up with resources to produce incredible things. Then again what would they do alone, I wonder.

rotten 8y ago

Life gets in the way for a while: Kids. Spouse/partner. House. Hobbies. Cynicism. Burnout. Health. Elder care. Then things settle. You work through the life thing, and in your 50's you get a fresh perspective and new energy.

ryandrake 8y ago
All of the above, plus, at most (non-FAANG) tech companies, as an individual contributor your salary will plateau when you’re around 30-35. During your 20s you’ll get used to double digit pay raises and then all of a sudden that will stop. Even changing jobs won’t give you more than a 1-2% bump as some point. I’ve had that surreal “we really want you to stay but we can’t give you a raise” conversation too many times in my career.
- SimonPStevens 8y ago
  Yes, this. So then those young brilliant individuals move into management because it's the only way to continue some semblance of career progression in your 30s. Then a subset of the gifted technical individuals grow tired of management, step down and go back to the tech to do what they really loved all along. I've met a fair amount of brilliant engineers in their 40s/50s who have been through management and decided it's not for them and are now shining as engineers again after a decade lost to leadership roles
imhoguy 8y ago
I would also add massive family debt/mortgage to this list. I saw so many star engineers fear-driven and stagnating in their tiny comfort zones to the burn-out or layoff.

kamaal 8y ago

Genius isn't a static quality. These things come with expiry dates. Learning is the key to flying high when it comes to a knowledge intensive career like programming. Its hard to do that a while. Also early 20's you just exit teenage, and a have degree of naivety and foolishness. That spark goes with time. And you become more intelligent, calculative and serious to stop experimenting the way you are before. But mostly, they stop learning. That's what causes the downfall.