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There's something that always amuses me about these articles, in that I think they serve as some sort of inspiration porn for people who are getting older but a

There's something that always amuses me about these articles, in that I think they serve as some sort of inspiration porn for people who are getting older but aren't successful. Look! A 55 year old did this! You can, too. But then you dig in, and you see that they were high powered execs before, or they had founded companies that were mid-level successes. I'm not sure why I feel this way. I feel very strongly that people can reinvent themselves. But I think there's some important context that's often skipped over: if you want to be successful when you're older, it helps to try and be successful when you're younger.

mojuba 3y ago
No doubt about it, but the article is talking about a hypersuccessful megacompany (that manufactures 60% the world's microchips) compared to other megacompanies in tech. I'd also point out that we are talking about hardware which is always, always harder than software. Show me a famous purely hardware company founded by a 19 year old college drop out.
- fragmede 3y ago
  You mean Dell? It was started in Michael Dell's dorm room at the University of Texas after dropping out.
  - mojuba 3y ago
    He didn't design anything, he started by putting together PC upgrade kits.
    - fragmede 3y ago
      If you're trying to say that Dell isn't a hardware company just because of where they started, I don't know what to tell you.
delegate 3y ago
I got fit after 40 and my fitness level keeps increasing now that I'm nearing 50, endurance sports are now part of my life. Me ! The obese slob on a bunch of pills for heart and kidney conditions and getting ready to die. All it took was to accidentally meet the person who showed me the way. After dozens of mountain peaks climbed, thousands of km ridden on the bike and buckets of sweat left in yoga classes, I now look like a model and I have women's eyes on me each time I look around. The most beautiful too, because they know what it takes. Radical change is possible and from what I've seen, some people just take a bit longer to wake up to their true potential. Believing that you have what it takes is all it takes :).
- mikub 3y ago
  And still you are so insecure that you have to brag about how "the most beautiful women" have their eyes on you. It's not radical change, I think professionals call it midlife crisis. ;)
  - delegate 3y ago
    Cynically you can see that as bragging, but it's just common sense if you dig into it. The ones that are not fit are intimidated and look away, because they stand no chance (I know because I was like that too). The 'beautiful' ones are the ones that do the hard work to stay in shape, so they know and are interested in people who do the same. The term 'midlife crisis' is ridiculous tbh, forget it, there's no crisis, it's called growing up and becoming a man.
  - raincole 3y ago
    Wow man HN is so brutal sometimes. Brutal and spot on tho. (especially after reading their reply to yours)
  - rTX5CMRXIfFG 3y ago
    I’m rooting for the guy you replied to, sorry. Turning around a condition of obesity and required medication into cardiovascular fitness at the age of 40 is radical. The self-worship is a bit unnecessary, sure, but it’s not like his positive self-image comes at your expense by telling you that you have no discipline—in fact the whole comment ends with a motivational note. The interpretation of malice, especially by quoting the part on attracting women, is what reeks of insecurity, really.
chipdart 3y ago
> I'm not sure why I feel this way. I feel very strongly that people can reinvent themselves. I'd turn it the other way around. These inspirational stories tend to be extremely biased towards young, no-career, highly-driven, high-hope types who had a hail Mary shot that they took and paid off in someway or another. It also doesn't help that most of these success stories are self-promotion pieces that overblow the success angle even when it's a miserable easily avoidable failure. In that sense, it's a breath of fresh air to see a success story that focuses on someone who went for a masters, followed by a PhD, followed by a long career in a growing sector climbing the corporate ladder up to the very top, followed by leading multiple companies, and finally creating the company that disrupts a market. We already have too many stories on random clueless individuals hitting the jackpot due to sheer luck in a once in a lifetime shot, and there is absolutely no value in life lessons that boil down to "do like me, and buy the winning lottery ticket."
- nikanj 3y ago
  I much prefer this to the typical path of the celebrated founder: 1) Be young 2) Go to Stanford / MIT / Harvard 3) Drop out after freshman autumn 4) Get ludicrous funding via family connections 5) Crash & burn because you're about as knowledgeable as one would expect a kid fresh out of high school to be
  - MichaelZuo 3y ago
    You need to meet more early 20s high achievers then. The smartest and wisest in a cohort of several million could easily be on par with a moderately above average 45 year old. Sure it’s unusual for folks to bet on a moderately average 45 year old, but not that unusual. I would say that it’s mostly earned. Of course there are those, not as capable, taking loans from rich relatives, but I doubt they make up the majority of cases.
    - sandspar 3y ago
      Statistically, the smartest person in a cohort of five million has an IQ of roughly 180. Above-average 45 year olds are not competing with 20 year olds with IQ's of 180. They may cooperate, but they tend to work in different problem spaces, much like how a streetball player isn't in direct competition with LeBron James even though they're both basketball players.
somenameforme 3y ago
There are also plenty of examples of folks coming from nothing as well. Ray Kroc [1] worked a variety of odd jobs, his final one was a door to door milkshake mixer salesman before discovering/founding McDonalds, at 52. Looking at the most successful, it seems like the greatest common denominator is simply having a very good/novel idea, and generally also a silver tongue. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kroc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kroc
hackerlight 3y ago
> if you want to be successful when you're older, it helps to try and be successful when you're younger. It's more like: If you weren't successful yet, there's usually a reason why, and that reason usually doesn't disappear. People and situations can change, but big changes are statistically unlikely, which is why historical performance is predictive. But on an individual level, if the reasons for lack of success are addressed, the past becomes much less predictive of the future, because the underlying causal factors that generate outcomes have changed. That person may as well be a different person at that point.

mojuba 3y ago

No doubt about it, but the article is talking about a hypersuccessful megacompany (that manufactures 60% the world's microchips) compared to other megacompanies in tech. I'd also point out that we are talking about hardware which is always, always harder than software. Show me a famous purely hardware company founded by a 19 year old college drop out.

fragmede 3y ago
You mean Dell? It was started in Michael Dell's dorm room at the University of Texas after dropping out.
- mojuba 3y ago
  He didn't design anything, he started by putting together PC upgrade kits.
  - fragmede 3y ago
    If you're trying to say that Dell isn't a hardware company just because of where they started, I don't know what to tell you.

delegate 3y ago

I got fit after 40 and my fitness level keeps increasing now that I'm nearing 50, endurance sports are now part of my life. Me ! The obese slob on a bunch of pills for heart and kidney conditions and getting ready to die. All it took was to accidentally meet the person who showed me the way. After dozens of mountain peaks climbed, thousands of km ridden on the bike and buckets of sweat left in yoga classes, I now look like a model and I have women's eyes on me each time I look around. The most beautiful too, because they know what it takes. Radical change is possible and from what I've seen, some people just take a bit longer to wake up to their true potential. Believing that you have what it takes is all it takes :).

mikub 3y ago
And still you are so insecure that you have to brag about how "the most beautiful women" have their eyes on you. It's not radical change, I think professionals call it midlife crisis. ;)
- delegate 3y ago
  Cynically you can see that as bragging, but it's just common sense if you dig into it. The ones that are not fit are intimidated and look away, because they stand no chance (I know because I was like that too). The 'beautiful' ones are the ones that do the hard work to stay in shape, so they know and are interested in people who do the same. The term 'midlife crisis' is ridiculous tbh, forget it, there's no crisis, it's called growing up and becoming a man.
- raincole 3y ago
  Wow man HN is so brutal sometimes. Brutal and spot on tho. (especially after reading their reply to yours)
- rTX5CMRXIfFG 3y ago
  I’m rooting for the guy you replied to, sorry. Turning around a condition of obesity and required medication into cardiovascular fitness at the age of 40 is radical. The self-worship is a bit unnecessary, sure, but it’s not like his positive self-image comes at your expense by telling you that you have no discipline—in fact the whole comment ends with a motivational note. The interpretation of malice, especially by quoting the part on attracting women, is what reeks of insecurity, really.

chipdart 3y ago

> I'm not sure why I feel this way. I feel very strongly that people can reinvent themselves. I'd turn it the other way around. These inspirational stories tend to be extremely biased towards young, no-career, highly-driven, high-hope types who had a hail Mary shot that they took and paid off in someway or another. It also doesn't help that most of these success stories are self-promotion pieces that overblow the success angle even when it's a miserable easily avoidable failure. In that sense, it's a breath of fresh air to see a success story that focuses on someone who went for a masters, followed by a PhD, followed by a long career in a growing sector climbing the corporate ladder up to the very top, followed by leading multiple companies, and finally creating the company that disrupts a market. We already have too many stories on random clueless individuals hitting the jackpot due to sheer luck in a once in a lifetime shot, and there is absolutely no value in life lessons that boil down to "do like me, and buy the winning lottery ticket."

nikanj 3y ago
I much prefer this to the typical path of the celebrated founder: 1) Be young 2) Go to Stanford / MIT / Harvard 3) Drop out after freshman autumn 4) Get ludicrous funding via family connections 5) Crash & burn because you're about as knowledgeable as one would expect a kid fresh out of high school to be
- MichaelZuo 3y ago
  You need to meet more early 20s high achievers then. The smartest and wisest in a cohort of several million could easily be on par with a moderately above average 45 year old. Sure it’s unusual for folks to bet on a moderately average 45 year old, but not that unusual. I would say that it’s mostly earned. Of course there are those, not as capable, taking loans from rich relatives, but I doubt they make up the majority of cases.
  - sandspar 3y ago
    Statistically, the smartest person in a cohort of five million has an IQ of roughly 180. Above-average 45 year olds are not competing with 20 year olds with IQ's of 180. They may cooperate, but they tend to work in different problem spaces, much like how a streetball player isn't in direct competition with LeBron James even though they're both basketball players.

somenameforme 3y ago

There are also plenty of examples of folks coming from nothing as well. Ray Kroc [1] worked a variety of odd jobs, his final one was a door to door milkshake mixer salesman before discovering/founding McDonalds, at 52. Looking at the most successful, it seems like the greatest common denominator is simply having a very good/novel idea, and generally also a silver tongue. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kroc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kroc

hackerlight 3y ago

> if you want to be successful when you're older, it helps to try and be successful when you're younger. It's more like: If you weren't successful yet, there's usually a reason why, and that reason usually doesn't disappear. People and situations can change, but big changes are statistically unlikely, which is why historical performance is predictive. But on an individual level, if the reasons for lack of success are addressed, the past becomes much less predictive of the future, because the underlying causal factors that generate outcomes have changed. That person may as well be a different person at that point.