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Ask HN: Is it harder to code as you grow old?

2 points by paulintrognon ↗ HN
My dad keeps telling me that I should stop being just a programmer and take more responsability, because according to him, when I will grow old, there will be younger better programmer out there, knowing the latest technologies, and I won't be able to keep up.

I have always been good at learning new languages / frameworks, but I see his point: when I work with older programmers, most of them are indeed a bit slower to adapt, and have a harder time learning new concepts (like Observables in Javascript).

But I am very happy with what I do now. I love being given technical challenges and solve them ; I don't want to manage teams or write documents about architecture. So I'm asking you, especially the senior developers out there: do you see yourself struggling to keep up as you grow older? Is staying "competitive" more challenging? Do you regret not taking more responsibility or do you still love being "just" a programmer?

Thank you all very much for your insights :)

3 comments

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lcuff
I'd stay with what you enjoy. At 30 I could learn something once and have it stick. No need to review, didn't forget. At 65, it sucks when I learn something one day, and have to refresh myself the next day if it was complicated. But I felt useful and productive until sixty. Everyone will be different, of course.
gquiniou
Two very important roles of experienced developers are to mentor the young ones on best practices and to tell the management when they have stupid ideas.

In workplaces where these roles are not recognized older developers tend to become grumpy and do not contribute much more than the others.

picatycomb
It can be. But at least in my case for a surprising reason: you see the younger cowboys in your team being eager to make the same mistakes you've done years ago. Including the mistake of not listening to the elders... ;) So you have to account not only for what your code could do but also for what bad^H^H^H naively written code could do.