3 ms·

If you don't hire someone because they know Ada instead of Ruby, the odds that you're profoundly shortsighted are extremely high. I once worked at a startup wh

If you don't hire someone because they know Ada instead of Ruby, the odds that you're profoundly shortsighted are extremely high. I once worked at a startup whose cofounders told me that I was the oldest person in the office (having just turned 26) because "people over 30 don't get technology", meanwhile, they couldn't understand HTML, much less programming, and therefore had to hire me. The very best programmer I know works primarily in Ada at his day job, whereas I know all the trendy web fads. If I had to choose him or me as an employee to write code, regardless of language, I'd choose him, objectively. If he starts working on whatever I'm working on, he'd almost certainly be better at it than me in a week. Whenever I have a difficult programming problem, I can struggle with it for hours (or days), and he can make it clear in minutes. He can look at my code in a language he's never seen before, for example, and solve my problem. It seems like a lot of companies are in the habit of hiring resumes instead of people. The older you are, the more time you've had not only to gain concrete skills, but to learn to abstract your existing skills and knowledge to apply to other things. Some of the seemingly widespread opinions in this industry (or at least among startup scene types) make me wonder how most of you manage not to drown when it rains. Some of the stuff I hear just makes no sense. It's not based in logic. Fortunately for guys like my friend, defense contractors and other huge corporations will be hiring devastatingly skilled people who have "boring, obsolete" skillsets for the foreseeable future. They're probably too smart to work at our on-average-destined-to-fail startups anyway. Contrary to popular belief, computer skills really don't decay that much. "New" things aren't really that new, they're almost always related to or based on something we've seen before, and if you're really any good at what you do, it won't take you long to get a grasp on it. Analogy: If you wouldn't hire Bruce Lee because he doesn't know the latest direct-to-DVD self-defense technique by Generic UFC Guy (TM)... you're making a huge mistake. tl;dr: make snap judgements and you're going to wind up sub-optimal employees.

kamaal 13y ago
>>The older you are, the more time you've had not only to gain concrete skills, but to learn to abstract your existing skills and knowledge to apply to other things. Unfortunately the older your are, you are less flexible, less adjusting, running short of energy, you can't take risks as you have a family, you can't work too hard or push yourself too much because there are health risks associated with that. The list goes endless. Its not a very comfortable position to be in old age. As some one who is in 20's and watching people in their 40's(My uncles) and my father(in his 60's) I can tell you the only chance we engineers have is to make loads of money, real estate and savings before we are 40-45. Else we are screwed. That unfortunately is the most blunt way to put it. You may believe in whatever you may like about experience coming with old age, but your employers will take raw passion and energy over accumulated experience any day. Your best bet is to make a lot of money and be safe or risk going through a lot of pain when you grow old.
- niels_olson 13y ago
  I suspect this sort of thinking, which places tremendous pressure on youth, is one of the reasons young people are consistently more unhappy than older people. (1) I don't spend as much time on work as I did when I was younger, but I get a lot more done. I have also learned a few things about how to motivate myself (eg, delayed gratification) If you're trying to live a good life, your best bet is probably not to focus entirely on making a lot of money, but to find what makes you happy. As a physician, you get to meet old people. Now that I know some old investment bankers, I don't envy the ones who focused on making tons of money. They can't climb the stairs to their ocean view bedrooms, they can't fit into their British sports cars and they never have time to drive them. Managing the paperwork of their assets becomes their full time job. My dad is a 68-year-old engineer, he seems happy, and making more than ever as a consultant. The fact that he likes restoring hot rods works well when the money guys find out and they can exchange pictures of Shelbys. Best advice for growing old: buy a one-story house. You can get to your bedroom and your kitchen. (1) http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/health/research/01happy.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/health/research/01happy.ht...
- rehack 13y ago
  > As some one who is in 20's and watching people in their 40's(My uncles) and my father(in his 60's) I can tell you the only chance we engineers have is to make loads of money, real estate and savings before we are 40-45. Else we are screwed Bull Shit. Stereotypes are just stereotypes. If you follow one you will be one. I am 41 year old engineer(programmer) & Entrepreneur. One project I am coding now has Java, C++, Go all together. The younger programmers in my team were sort of scared to touch C++ part. I am encouraging one of them to learn Go. I do two projects at a time, one of my own and another for a client. Support the former a bit with the consulting money I get from the latter. I wrote the above to counter your ageist myths. You are younger and I presume flexible enough to correct them :-) PS: I didn't down vote you BTW.

kamaal 13y ago

>>The older you are, the more time you've had not only to gain concrete skills, but to learn to abstract your existing skills and knowledge to apply to other things. Unfortunately the older your are, you are less flexible, less adjusting, running short of energy, you can't take risks as you have a family, you can't work too hard or push yourself too much because there are health risks associated with that. The list goes endless. Its not a very comfortable position to be in old age. As some one who is in 20's and watching people in their 40's(My uncles) and my father(in his 60's) I can tell you the only chance we engineers have is to make loads of money, real estate and savings before we are 40-45. Else we are screwed. That unfortunately is the most blunt way to put it. You may believe in whatever you may like about experience coming with old age, but your employers will take raw passion and energy over accumulated experience any day. Your best bet is to make a lot of money and be safe or risk going through a lot of pain when you grow old.

niels_olson 13y ago
I suspect this sort of thinking, which places tremendous pressure on youth, is one of the reasons young people are consistently more unhappy than older people. (1) I don't spend as much time on work as I did when I was younger, but I get a lot more done. I have also learned a few things about how to motivate myself (eg, delayed gratification) If you're trying to live a good life, your best bet is probably not to focus entirely on making a lot of money, but to find what makes you happy. As a physician, you get to meet old people. Now that I know some old investment bankers, I don't envy the ones who focused on making tons of money. They can't climb the stairs to their ocean view bedrooms, they can't fit into their British sports cars and they never have time to drive them. Managing the paperwork of their assets becomes their full time job. My dad is a 68-year-old engineer, he seems happy, and making more than ever as a consultant. The fact that he likes restoring hot rods works well when the money guys find out and they can exchange pictures of Shelbys. Best advice for growing old: buy a one-story house. You can get to your bedroom and your kitchen. (1) http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/health/research/01happy.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/health/research/01happy.ht...
rehack 13y ago
> As some one who is in 20's and watching people in their 40's(My uncles) and my father(in his 60's) I can tell you the only chance we engineers have is to make loads of money, real estate and savings before we are 40-45. Else we are screwed Bull Shit. Stereotypes are just stereotypes. If you follow one you will be one. I am 41 year old engineer(programmer) & Entrepreneur. One project I am coding now has Java, C++, Go all together. The younger programmers in my team were sort of scared to touch C++ part. I am encouraging one of them to learn Go. I do two projects at a time, one of my own and another for a client. Support the former a bit with the consulting money I get from the latter. I wrote the above to counter your ageist myths. You are younger and I presume flexible enough to correct them :-) PS: I didn't down vote you BTW.