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I have a theory. Competence increases with age. However, there's a fine line between older people not doing as many stupid things, versus older people not takin

by _greim_ 13y ago

I have a theory. Competence increases with age. However, there's a fine line between older people not doing as many stupid things, versus older people not taking as many risks. The perceived "talent" or "smartness" of younger people in the valley is simply the result of them taking more risks, which inevitably sometimes pay off. And risk-payoffs in the valley are disproportionately large at the high end, which skews the balance toward taking more risks. For my theory to be true, silicon valley startups would be riddled by god-awful, marginally working code in the average case.

SomeCallMeTim 13y ago
>However, there's a fine line between older people not doing as many stupid things, versus older people not taking as many risks. Yes, I can back this point up. I feel it. I used to crank out demos in crazy short periods of time. Now I take longer, but when I'm done it's code with really solid engineering that I wouldn't be ashamed to continue using. Because that "crank it out quick demo" always gets used. And you always end up suffering with it for months (or years). And despite feeling like I'm taking "longer", I still tend to get things done faster than most developers.