4 ms·

Curious how are the 40,50,60 year old programmers working out for your team?

SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
Can’t speak for the original commenter, but the 50 year old on our team ramped up to become our most trusted source of design feedback within a month or two.
filoleg 7y ago
Not OP, but I can tell you how it was working out on my previous team within a big 4 tech co. For the context, the whole team consisted of a mix of a few people in their 20s (1 being almost 30, 2 being straight out of college in their early 20s), 2 in their 30s, manager in their 40s, 1 more person in their 40s, and 1 person in their 50s. Almost like a paper perfect age diversity bingo card. What i found was that age had absolutely nothing to do with anything when it came to my workplace. There were more differences between some teammates in their 20s than between them and the teammates over 40. Older teammates were not slower or learning less things or anything like that. The only major workplace difference i have noticed between younger and older people was that they were better at estimating their schedules/delivery timelines, as well as them being able to spot certain things that younger ones havent spotted yet, i guess due to their experience with certain problems and being able to see those repeating patterns. A bit more patience and being a bit better at explaining things in bajillion different ways until one of them clicks for you; i would say social skills and ability to navigate the workplace in general were a bit higher. But that was definitely not universal for every older person, just simply talking about averages within the groups of older people i got a chance to work with. However, i bet it had a lot to do with the kind of people we hired, and if you look at the industry averages of older people vs younger people (when it comes to being up to date on the tech stack, research, learning new things, etc), the picture painted would be vastly different.
swalsh 7y ago
My experience with older programmers is they are generally a bit slower. However they typically bring to the table something much more valuable. Everything that's new, has been done before... and they've seen it done before. They know the pitfalls, they also know the shortcuts. Many of them are hesitant of adopting new technology, but when they do, it's usually bringing something significant to the table. In my opinion, if you can get one of these old guys on your team, your team is going to be better off. That said, the crotchetiness is almost always on the higher end. Of course, it's not a rule. I also once worked with an older guy who was one of the nicest guys I've worked with... but I wouldn't let him come within 10 feet of my repo.
lettergram 7y ago
I think the difference may be approach. I found those older were often better at estimating and had a breadth of knowledge they could draw from. Honestly, I think generally everyone comes to the table with experience. Those who are older typically can tie theirs together better than we can vocalizing between members, so they have an edge. Everyone I’ve worked with has always been willing to learn (it’s what I personally and companies screen for in interviews) so that’s never been a problem. Generally though, age doesn’t play a role in anything meaningful I’ve seen. Years of experience In a field can help, willingness to learn, and attitude / temperament, that’s about it - irrespective of age

Can’t speak for the original commenter, but the 50 year old on our team ramped up to become our most trusted source of design feedback within a month or two.

filoleg 7y ago

Not OP, but I can tell you how it was working out on my previous team within a big 4 tech co. For the context, the whole team consisted of a mix of a few people in their 20s (1 being almost 30, 2 being straight out of college in their early 20s), 2 in their 30s, manager in their 40s, 1 more person in their 40s, and 1 person in their 50s. Almost like a paper perfect age diversity bingo card. What i found was that age had absolutely nothing to do with anything when it came to my workplace. There were more differences between some teammates in their 20s than between them and the teammates over 40. Older teammates were not slower or learning less things or anything like that. The only major workplace difference i have noticed between younger and older people was that they were better at estimating their schedules/delivery timelines, as well as them being able to spot certain things that younger ones havent spotted yet, i guess due to their experience with certain problems and being able to see those repeating patterns. A bit more patience and being a bit better at explaining things in bajillion different ways until one of them clicks for you; i would say social skills and ability to navigate the workplace in general were a bit higher. But that was definitely not universal for every older person, just simply talking about averages within the groups of older people i got a chance to work with. However, i bet it had a lot to do with the kind of people we hired, and if you look at the industry averages of older people vs younger people (when it comes to being up to date on the tech stack, research, learning new things, etc), the picture painted would be vastly different.

swalsh 7y ago

My experience with older programmers is they are generally a bit slower. However they typically bring to the table something much more valuable. Everything that's new, has been done before... and they've seen it done before. They know the pitfalls, they also know the shortcuts. Many of them are hesitant of adopting new technology, but when they do, it's usually bringing something significant to the table. In my opinion, if you can get one of these old guys on your team, your team is going to be better off. That said, the crotchetiness is almost always on the higher end. Of course, it's not a rule. I also once worked with an older guy who was one of the nicest guys I've worked with... but I wouldn't let him come within 10 feet of my repo.

lettergram 7y ago

I think the difference may be approach. I found those older were often better at estimating and had a breadth of knowledge they could draw from. Honestly, I think generally everyone comes to the table with experience. Those who are older typically can tie theirs together better than we can vocalizing between members, so they have an edge. Everyone I’ve worked with has always been willing to learn (it’s what I personally and companies screen for in interviews) so that’s never been a problem. Generally though, age doesn’t play a role in anything meaningful I’ve seen. Years of experience In a field can help, willingness to learn, and attitude / temperament, that’s about it - irrespective of age