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39 here. I'm significantly better than in my 20s. Much more knowledge and wisdom, a bit less raw brainpower. But I know I can force myself through hard stuff (

39 here. I'm significantly better than in my 20s. Much more knowledge and wisdom, a bit less raw brainpower. But I know I can force myself through hard stuff (prolog, category theory, ML research papers) but only if I can kick out instant gratification for a while (reddit, hn, videogames). I remember this week more than 10 years ago where my graphics card died, and had to go with this ancient card with zero acceleration, and no videogames. I was surprisingly productive that week.

spacemadness 3y ago
Constantly needing to “feel productive” after work by limiting hobbies is also enough to drive you crazy after awhile, unless it’s of real personal interest of course and not just to advance your career.
makz 3y ago
37 here. I’m probably slower than in my 20s but somehow I feel smarter. I feel it takes me less time to learn new stuff and solve complex issues.
- conductr 3y ago
  Agree. I've learned an approach to picking up new things, solving problems, and thinking things through such that I get it right the first time more often. It's a measure twice cut once type approach. Where as, my younger self would just start trying things and would end up getting it right eventually. It felt fast but took longer and might have had some collateral damage depending on situation.
- gardenhedge 3y ago
  In what way are you slower then?
  - bcrosby95 3y ago
    I'm 43 and probably slower in the sense that I'm slower at producing code. I'm slower because I think more about the code I produce. I have a wider knowledge of the domain I work in, cross cutting concerns, and technical choices that I'm taking into account when producing code. So I arrive at a more-correct solution faster. I would say the tradeoff is worth it, but of course I would because I'm not in my 20s. If faster while missing more security issues, performance problems, and corner cases is what you want, my 20 year old self is probably better.
  - makz 3y ago
    Reflexes, movements, manual tasks, repetitive tasks
- ilaksh 3y ago
  Because a big aspect of intelligence is compression and decompression. As people age they have more context already available so there is more to draw on (automatically) when solving problems or learning. So less distance to get there.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  You probably aren't any slower. One difference that I think I've noticed between older and younger devs is that older ones tend to be slower to actually write code than younger ones are. But the code they write tends to be closer to correct, so less time is needed refining and debugging it. So it can look slower up front, but over the span of the entire task, it's faster.
Balero 3y ago
How much of this "less raw brainpower" is due to age, and how much is due to potentially having a less focused mind? I have massively noticed issues with my concentration, and I don't think it's due to age, so much as to watching Youtube and reddit. I guess what I'm getting at is it's sometimes hard to untangle what changes are due to getting older, and which ones are due to the world changing. For me it's boredom, I used to have long boring summers, and get bored on weekends in the 90's and early 2000's. I haven't been bored in years. Is this because of the internet? But I'm not bored when I don't have access to the internet now, so maybe I just enjoy some peace and quiet now I'm older.
- lelanthran 3y ago
  As far as maintaining focus goes, I had a lot of trouble doing so after 40. I wrote a small program[1] to help me maintain context between different projects, and I'm now more productive than I was in my 30s. [1] I tried all the personal task management and task tracker tools, even wrote a few of my own. It turned out that my brain works differently to how the tools want you to work. My new tool which works well to keep me on track matches how I work. IOW, now I don't have to adjust my brain to the tool, the tool is already adjusted to my brain's process.
  - dlivingston 3y ago
    Can you give some details on your tool? I've played the "productivity app whack-a-mole" game, too, and always walk away empty. I just stick with a pen and paper, but I'd love a digital solution.
    - lelanthran 3y ago
      In case you are still reading, I did a Show HN (my first one!): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35945609 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35945609
    - cushpush 3y ago
      it sounds like it's gotta be catered to your workflow. i wonder what this is like, i work out of sketch books and paper+pen a lot. project context seems like a good thing to be able to preserve and replicate between the various frames. elon mentioned that context switching was one of the more costly plays
menacingly 3y ago
Funny timing, I was just discussing with a friend that I can palpably feel a slight loss of edge, I know sometimes that I'm working through something with a little less raw horsepower, and I still wouldn't trade away the experience advantage for anything. It feels like a shift slightly away from "build the thing right" and toward "build the right thing". There's no sense racing to a destination that we don't want to arrive at in the first place.

spacemadness 3y ago

Constantly needing to “feel productive” after work by limiting hobbies is also enough to drive you crazy after awhile, unless it’s of real personal interest of course and not just to advance your career.

makz 3y ago

37 here. I’m probably slower than in my 20s but somehow I feel smarter. I feel it takes me less time to learn new stuff and solve complex issues.

conductr 3y ago
Agree. I've learned an approach to picking up new things, solving problems, and thinking things through such that I get it right the first time more often. It's a measure twice cut once type approach. Where as, my younger self would just start trying things and would end up getting it right eventually. It felt fast but took longer and might have had some collateral damage depending on situation.
gardenhedge 3y ago
In what way are you slower then?
- bcrosby95 3y ago
  I'm 43 and probably slower in the sense that I'm slower at producing code. I'm slower because I think more about the code I produce. I have a wider knowledge of the domain I work in, cross cutting concerns, and technical choices that I'm taking into account when producing code. So I arrive at a more-correct solution faster. I would say the tradeoff is worth it, but of course I would because I'm not in my 20s. If faster while missing more security issues, performance problems, and corner cases is what you want, my 20 year old self is probably better.
- makz 3y ago
  Reflexes, movements, manual tasks, repetitive tasks
ilaksh 3y ago
Because a big aspect of intelligence is compression and decompression. As people age they have more context already available so there is more to draw on (automatically) when solving problems or learning. So less distance to get there.
JohnFen 3y ago
You probably aren't any slower. One difference that I think I've noticed between older and younger devs is that older ones tend to be slower to actually write code than younger ones are. But the code they write tends to be closer to correct, so less time is needed refining and debugging it. So it can look slower up front, but over the span of the entire task, it's faster.

Balero 3y ago

How much of this "less raw brainpower" is due to age, and how much is due to potentially having a less focused mind? I have massively noticed issues with my concentration, and I don't think it's due to age, so much as to watching Youtube and reddit. I guess what I'm getting at is it's sometimes hard to untangle what changes are due to getting older, and which ones are due to the world changing. For me it's boredom, I used to have long boring summers, and get bored on weekends in the 90's and early 2000's. I haven't been bored in years. Is this because of the internet? But I'm not bored when I don't have access to the internet now, so maybe I just enjoy some peace and quiet now I'm older.

lelanthran 3y ago
As far as maintaining focus goes, I had a lot of trouble doing so after 40. I wrote a small program[1] to help me maintain context between different projects, and I'm now more productive than I was in my 30s. [1] I tried all the personal task management and task tracker tools, even wrote a few of my own. It turned out that my brain works differently to how the tools want you to work. My new tool which works well to keep me on track matches how I work. IOW, now I don't have to adjust my brain to the tool, the tool is already adjusted to my brain's process.
- dlivingston 3y ago
  Can you give some details on your tool? I've played the "productivity app whack-a-mole" game, too, and always walk away empty. I just stick with a pen and paper, but I'd love a digital solution.
  - lelanthran 3y ago
    In case you are still reading, I did a Show HN (my first one!): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35945609 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35945609
  - cushpush 3y ago
    it sounds like it's gotta be catered to your workflow. i wonder what this is like, i work out of sketch books and paper+pen a lot. project context seems like a good thing to be able to preserve and replicate between the various frames. elon mentioned that context switching was one of the more costly plays

menacingly 3y ago

Funny timing, I was just discussing with a friend that I can palpably feel a slight loss of edge, I know sometimes that I'm working through something with a little less raw horsepower, and I still wouldn't trade away the experience advantage for anything. It feels like a shift slightly away from "build the thing right" and toward "build the right thing". There's no sense racing to a destination that we don't want to arrive at in the first place.