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As a programmer in that age range I know I don't need to spend time learning the nuances of JS if I'm not using JS. If I start on a JS project (god forbid) I ca

As a programmer in that age range I know I don't need to spend time learning the nuances of JS if I'm not using JS. If I start on a JS project (god forbid) I can learn that then. Just like I learned C/C++/Java/Python/PHP/Ruby/Clojure etc when I started on one of those projects. Machine learning - we know that just means linear regression or Bayesian filters plus marketing, and we prefer programming. We've also seen 20 years of "magic bullet" solutions like ML fizzle and die in the real world and know most ML projects never see a day in production. K8s is great if running k8s is your job. But it is a specialized skill that is only needed to run very large infrastructures, unless your project architecture (read microservices) has gone very wrong. 20/30 year olds think "keeping your skills" up means learning every new programming fad that blows through because they don't have the experience to differentiate the fads from the advancements. It is like telling master carpenters they need to keep switching brands of tools to "keep their skills up". But all these tools do the same things and are 99% identical. They are busy building stuff with the tools they have.

beckingz 6y ago
ML includes logistic regression these days too! Revolutionary advance in industry best practices. /s
ryandrake 6y ago
I love the carpentry example, it's perfect! Sometimes I think tech hiring is kind of like hiring a carpenter, and asking him, "Do you use a circular saw? Because we're a circular saw shop. And I don't mean your 1952 Black and Decker saw, I'm talking a modern day Makita. If you don't have modern Makita circular saw experience, you need to work on updating your skills!"
arp242 6y ago
The older I get, the less interested I am in learning new things for the sake of it. I've already programmed with a whole bunch of different environments in the last 20 years; what's the value of learning something new if it doesn't give me any benefits? It's not being lazy or a "dinosaur", it's just better time management. The absolute worst devs I've worked with were very "up to date" people who wanted to re-do all the already-working "outdated" stuff to new "modern" standards. Often, it's just a waste of time.
smsm42 6y ago
Very much this. Knowing particular set of keywords that constitutes latest fashion language is a short-term skill. Knowing the paradigms that guide all of them and being able to learn the keywords if necessary in a short time is a long-term skill. Some companies prefer to "hire to the spec" to save short-term learning costs. Smarter companies look into long-term skills which will be useful whatever keywords are in fashion this season.

beckingz 6y ago

ML includes logistic regression these days too! Revolutionary advance in industry best practices. /s

ryandrake 6y ago

I love the carpentry example, it's perfect! Sometimes I think tech hiring is kind of like hiring a carpenter, and asking him, "Do you use a circular saw? Because we're a circular saw shop. And I don't mean your 1952 Black and Decker saw, I'm talking a modern day Makita. If you don't have modern Makita circular saw experience, you need to work on updating your skills!"

arp242 6y ago

The older I get, the less interested I am in learning new things for the sake of it. I've already programmed with a whole bunch of different environments in the last 20 years; what's the value of learning something new if it doesn't give me any benefits? It's not being lazy or a "dinosaur", it's just better time management. The absolute worst devs I've worked with were very "up to date" people who wanted to re-do all the already-working "outdated" stuff to new "modern" standards. Often, it's just a waste of time.

smsm42 6y ago

Very much this. Knowing particular set of keywords that constitutes latest fashion language is a short-term skill. Knowing the paradigms that guide all of them and being able to learn the keywords if necessary in a short time is a long-term skill. Some companies prefer to "hire to the spec" to save short-term learning costs. Smarter companies look into long-term skills which will be useful whatever keywords are in fashion this season.