3 ms·

The thing is, when you're older, there's really no way to reach the younger generation. They aren't listening to you because you're older, for the most part, a

by nika 16y ago

The thing is, when you're older, there's really no way to reach the younger generation. They aren't listening to you because you're older, for the most part, and they've been listening to their "out of touch" parents their whole lives. They won't understand until their your age, and then they'll have to deal with another younger generation. This isn't a criticism of anyone, just my obeservation about why there is a gap. It is a shame too, because youth has the energy and age has the wisdom, and if the two could be combined, companies would benefit.

marquis 16y ago
I don't think that's completely true. The youth idolise Neil deGrasse Tyson, Sagan etc. You just need to match their energy level and enthusiasm. I'd think it's irrelevant what age you are if your eyes sparkle with the mention of a relevant technology.
ohyes 16y ago
Isn't this kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy type situation. Older workers aren't relevant because the younger generation won't listen to them. The younger generation won't listen to older workers because older workers aren't relevant. I work with two older guys and its great. They've got all of the domain knowledge and I can just bounce ideas off of them. They can tell me 'we don't really need that', 'that won't work because xyz' or 'we already tried that and it didn't work because xyz'. It has saved me a ton of pain multiple times. The big deal is the domain knowledge however. Most companies just aren't willing to pay enough to keep domain expert software engineers around.
Luyt 16y ago
A program I'd written once got chastised by a young developer: he found it oldfashioned, "not of this time". After some asking about what he meant, I found out his main gripe was that the buttons and title bar didn't look like the 'aero' styled ones you see in Windows Vista٭. When I invited him to show me a prototype mockup of the app showing the GUI according to his taste, he declined. He also never properly completed the few projects he was assigned to, and eventually left the company for greener pastures. ٭) The app's controls look simple and grayish like in Windows 2K. No color effects. No translucency. No skinning. This is an app that 30 people use on a daily basis and it makes an effort to let them do things fast and accurate with the least chance of surprise and/or annoyance. No user of the app has complained to me yet about the lack of eye candy.
ahoyhere 16y ago
"They won't listen" - really? I've had lots of older mentors in my life, and they treated me like their equal. This is a distinct contrast to older people who just take the opportunity to lecture and judge. "You won't understand until you're older" is a sterling example of how to ensure no young person will listen to you -- it's inherently disrespectful, and shows you are concerned less with communicating than affirming your own special-ness. Maybe it's you. (When I was in middle school, I befriended my librarian, taught her HTML, which led to me teaching whole classes of librarians and meeting the library sciences executive for the entire county. She became a friend. Once she told me in typical frankness, "I wish I hadn't given so much to this job. A job will never love you back." Do you think I ignored her, figuring that I knew better? She never once told me "you can't understand until you're older." Because she was a true mentor, and that's a cop-out.)

by nika 16y ago

marquis 16y ago

I don't think that's completely true. The youth idolise Neil deGrasse Tyson, Sagan etc. You just need to match their energy level and enthusiasm. I'd think it's irrelevant what age you are if your eyes sparkle with the mention of a relevant technology.

ohyes 16y ago

Isn't this kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy type situation. Older workers aren't relevant because the younger generation won't listen to them. The younger generation won't listen to older workers because older workers aren't relevant. I work with two older guys and its great. They've got all of the domain knowledge and I can just bounce ideas off of them. They can tell me 'we don't really need that', 'that won't work because xyz' or 'we already tried that and it didn't work because xyz'. It has saved me a ton of pain multiple times. The big deal is the domain knowledge however. Most companies just aren't willing to pay enough to keep domain expert software engineers around.

Luyt 16y ago

A program I'd written once got chastised by a young developer: he found it oldfashioned, "not of this time". After some asking about what he meant, I found out his main gripe was that the buttons and title bar didn't look like the 'aero' styled ones you see in Windows Vista٭. When I invited him to show me a prototype mockup of the app showing the GUI according to his taste, he declined. He also never properly completed the few projects he was assigned to, and eventually left the company for greener pastures. ٭) The app's controls look simple and grayish like in Windows 2K. No color effects. No translucency. No skinning. This is an app that 30 people use on a daily basis and it makes an effort to let them do things fast and accurate with the least chance of surprise and/or annoyance. No user of the app has complained to me yet about the lack of eye candy.

ahoyhere 16y ago

"They won't listen" - really? I've had lots of older mentors in my life, and they treated me like their equal. This is a distinct contrast to older people who just take the opportunity to lecture and judge. "You won't understand until you're older" is a sterling example of how to ensure no young person will listen to you -- it's inherently disrespectful, and shows you are concerned less with communicating than affirming your own special-ness. Maybe it's you. (When I was in middle school, I befriended my librarian, taught her HTML, which led to me teaching whole classes of librarians and meeting the library sciences executive for the entire county. She became a friend. Once she told me in typical frankness, "I wish I hadn't given so much to this job. A job will never love you back." Do you think I ignored her, figuring that I knew better? She never once told me "you can't understand until you're older." Because she was a true mentor, and that's a cop-out.)