4 ms·

> Those stereotypes include being seen as less competent and less adaptable, particularly when it comes to using new technologies. Anecdotally, I have encounte

> Those stereotypes include being seen as less competent and less adaptable, particularly when it comes to using new technologies. Anecdotally, I have encountered the latter a few times. I've known older developers (> 40) who didn't want to move to Angular/React and would rather have stayed on jQuery (for complicated brand new web apps) or didn't want to learn beyond Java 8.

rendall 5y ago
I've known developers like that in their 20s. They get comfortable in their niche and have been doing it that way for so long they resist anything different. Be wary. This can happen to us all.
seattle_spring 5y ago
My experience as well. On top of that, those types of engineers usually have a terrible and arrogant attitude and often attribute any disagreement as "ageism."
nowherebeen 5y ago
Counterpoint is if there was any reason to? I find both jQuery and React solve very different problems. Simply moving to React because it’s what’s everyone is doing would be just as wrong as sticking to jQuery because they refuse to learn new things.
- jgerrish 5y ago
  You're right, jQuery alone, even when it was all the rage, wasn't enough for a frontend application. Backbone, Marionette, eventually Angular and all the rest were huge improvements. You needed a message passing / routing framework, and the new frameworks have consolidated that and improved on it. Older developers are sometimes more conservative. Sorry. And age leads to cognitive decline. Reality is reality. I'm an older engineer, and even if things are stacked against me, I'm ok with that. It's a consequence of the brutal shift in cultural education around the craft. I hope more creative individuals flourish.
indymike 5y ago
> didn't want to learn This right here is the problem. A lifetime commitment to learning, especially when it is inconvenient, is a requirement to be successful in software development.
ilaksh 5y ago
43 here. Done some Angular projects years ago (when it was quite different). Worked on a bit of React. A few years ago started playing around with Vue.js Honestly I think it's an error to assume that everything needs to be in React. Even with Hooks it can be overly complicated for many projects. The new thing seems to be Svelte and I would try to make that work or Vue before going with React even though I know React is vastly more popular. But you can build with vanilla JS and it can work out fine. Especially if you have control over the UI design and create something straightforward without a lot of state interactions. I mean React is great and can be a good idea for many projects but I think taking it as an assumption is more of a persistent trend than a totally empirical choice.

rendall 5y ago

I've known developers like that in their 20s. They get comfortable in their niche and have been doing it that way for so long they resist anything different. Be wary. This can happen to us all.

seattle_spring 5y ago

My experience as well. On top of that, those types of engineers usually have a terrible and arrogant attitude and often attribute any disagreement as "ageism."

nowherebeen 5y ago

Counterpoint is if there was any reason to? I find both jQuery and React solve very different problems. Simply moving to React because it’s what’s everyone is doing would be just as wrong as sticking to jQuery because they refuse to learn new things.

jgerrish 5y ago
You're right, jQuery alone, even when it was all the rage, wasn't enough for a frontend application. Backbone, Marionette, eventually Angular and all the rest were huge improvements. You needed a message passing / routing framework, and the new frameworks have consolidated that and improved on it. Older developers are sometimes more conservative. Sorry. And age leads to cognitive decline. Reality is reality. I'm an older engineer, and even if things are stacked against me, I'm ok with that. It's a consequence of the brutal shift in cultural education around the craft. I hope more creative individuals flourish.

indymike 5y ago

> didn't want to learn This right here is the problem. A lifetime commitment to learning, especially when it is inconvenient, is a requirement to be successful in software development.

ilaksh 5y ago

43 here. Done some Angular projects years ago (when it was quite different). Worked on a bit of React. A few years ago started playing around with Vue.js Honestly I think it's an error to assume that everything needs to be in React. Even with Hooks it can be overly complicated for many projects. The new thing seems to be Svelte and I would try to make that work or Vue before going with React even though I know React is vastly more popular. But you can build with vanilla JS and it can work out fine. Especially if you have control over the UI design and create something straightforward without a lot of state interactions. I mean React is great and can be a good idea for many projects but I think taking it as an assumption is more of a persistent trend than a totally empirical choice.