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Yes and no. The good news: if you're in your 20s now, you have 60 or 70 years of life left, and scientific advances being what they are, they'll probably be mo

Yes and no. The good news: if you're in your 20s now, you have 60 or 70 years of life left, and scientific advances being what they are, they'll probably be mostly good years. That's a lot of time. Also, the common trope about poets and mathematicians peaking at 20 is the exception, not the rule, and doesn't apply to modern times anyway (mathematics is so specialized that modern mathematicians are just getting started at 25-30). The actual cognitive peak is somewhere around 50, and the drop-off after that is health-related rather than hard-coded, so if you stay healthy, even into your 80s the decline will be slight to nonexistent. Using vocabulary as an example, you probably won't gain many words from 50 to 80, but if you're healthy, you won't lose many either. So yes, if you're 25 or even 50, you have a hell of a lot of time left. The bad news: society is incredibly ageist, and as you get older, the amount you need to have achieved in order to be taken seriously ratchets up. Do you think Mark Zuckerberg (who is as much a VC invention as most celebrities are Hollywood inventions) would have gotten the support, mentoring, and funding that he did if he were 36 instead of 20? Almost impossible. Being young is a hard-to-tap (if you're not perceived as being exceptional, you'll be typecast as a "young pup" and not taken seriously) but extremely powerful asset in business: the "boy wonder" archetype. Perhaps it's utterly moronic that it works, but it is very powerful when it hits. This is even worse in the big-box corporate world than in technology, where your age and job title define who you are as a person. In big-box corporate, VP at 35 means you're serious, whereas VP at 50 is a consolation prize. This is why people in that world bump their college degrees up 5 years and pay for plastic surgery, the latter being an investment that pays itself off immensely. It's not just that people want to appear younger; it's that they benefit immensely by the appearance of being in their current position at a younger age. So, you are running out of time, not because of biology, but because of the general shallowness of most people. At age 40, you have one-fifth as many options as you did at 22. It sucks, but that's the way the world works now.

eavc 15y ago
Great comment. As a 27-year-old who has had several false-starts in my career, I'm already feeling some of that pain. It strikes me that, since there are some important elements of human personality that can change over time, there are some 'geniuses' that blossom later or who are late to really get going for some reason. This might be a point worth reflecting on for hiring in competitive fields. You could find some A+ candidates that have slipped through the cracks.
- chipsy 15y ago
  26 years old today. Definitely reflecting on this. I recall once reading that there are two kinds of breakthrough successes - younger "rockstar" successes driven by narrow, intense passion, and older "masters" who have accumulated an unmatched breadth and depth of experience. While I can see elements of both in myself, I can see the door for the first closing rapidly.
dkrich 15y ago
Good points, but I disagree. Mark Zuckerberg is the exception, and not the rule. People were founding and running businesses long before Facebook, at much older ages, which is why Facebook is such an incredible story in the first place. I do agree that his lore is almost entirely due to his age, and that VC's would have had a harder time investing in a social network that was intended for college audiences were the founder well out of college. However, that is something that I think is limited to social networks, and not more common, dare I say, relevant businesses. Whatever your age, calm down, enjoy your life, and realize that we humans suck at predicting. Do what makes you happy and ignore the outside pressures.
bergie 15y ago
On the other hand, if you're bootstrapping your startup, then age may be a benefit. Especially in B2B sales are easier when you're not regarded as a "kid". And obviously VP at 50 doesn't matter when you have your own company.
dsmithn 15y ago
I think you missed the point of the essay. You're comparing success to other people, just like Julius Caesar comparing himself to Alexander the Great. You're playing the game. If you want to climb the corporate ladder, you better enjoy every day working late nights, striving for great reviews, etc. Your title means only as much as you want it to. Life doesn't have to be a race to the top. Your Startup doesn't have to have a billion dollar IPO for you to be happy. Enjoy refining your product, providing great service to people, the struggles and stress of acquiring funding, the ups and downs.
- michaelochurch 15y ago
  Interesting post, but no one enjoys the "struggles and stress of acquiring funding". Everyone I've talked to says its a degrading and consumptive process.

eavc 15y ago

Great comment. As a 27-year-old who has had several false-starts in my career, I'm already feeling some of that pain. It strikes me that, since there are some important elements of human personality that can change over time, there are some 'geniuses' that blossom later or who are late to really get going for some reason. This might be a point worth reflecting on for hiring in competitive fields. You could find some A+ candidates that have slipped through the cracks.

chipsy 15y ago
26 years old today. Definitely reflecting on this. I recall once reading that there are two kinds of breakthrough successes - younger "rockstar" successes driven by narrow, intense passion, and older "masters" who have accumulated an unmatched breadth and depth of experience. While I can see elements of both in myself, I can see the door for the first closing rapidly.

dkrich 15y ago

Good points, but I disagree. Mark Zuckerberg is the exception, and not the rule. People were founding and running businesses long before Facebook, at much older ages, which is why Facebook is such an incredible story in the first place. I do agree that his lore is almost entirely due to his age, and that VC's would have had a harder time investing in a social network that was intended for college audiences were the founder well out of college. However, that is something that I think is limited to social networks, and not more common, dare I say, relevant businesses. Whatever your age, calm down, enjoy your life, and realize that we humans suck at predicting. Do what makes you happy and ignore the outside pressures.

bergie 15y ago

On the other hand, if you're bootstrapping your startup, then age may be a benefit. Especially in B2B sales are easier when you're not regarded as a "kid". And obviously VP at 50 doesn't matter when you have your own company.

dsmithn 15y ago

I think you missed the point of the essay. You're comparing success to other people, just like Julius Caesar comparing himself to Alexander the Great. You're playing the game. If you want to climb the corporate ladder, you better enjoy every day working late nights, striving for great reviews, etc. Your title means only as much as you want it to. Life doesn't have to be a race to the top. Your Startup doesn't have to have a billion dollar IPO for you to be happy. Enjoy refining your product, providing great service to people, the struggles and stress of acquiring funding, the ups and downs.

michaelochurch 15y ago
Interesting post, but no one enjoys the "struggles and stress of acquiring funding". Everyone I've talked to says its a degrading and consumptive process.