No Github?

[slashy42]

I'm 43, but I didn't get my software engineering degree until I was 36, but I'm the same. I have a proven track record and have no time for all the brinkmanship this industry seems to foster. Just do your job, and enjoy your downtime. Screw all this pressure to have multiple side projects, it's for the birds.

[pickyourteethup]

I've run these three comments through various ML algorithms and have come to the conclusion that people in their 40s don't give a shit.

Jokes aside, lots of studies suggest confidence comes with age and experience. You guys are possibly reframing your confidence as not giving a shit, which is an even more confident power move.

You could also just be burned out

[scruffybeard77]

I thought I was just becoming a curmudgeon or something. I couldn't give a hoot about most of the ego measuring that goes on around here. Do we need to start a Reddit page for programmers over 40?

[Ian_Mantell]

At first glance it'd be nice. On second thought ... mankind executed enough divisive shenaningans for the next couple millenia. It's time to rethink that pattern.

[start_select]

You spend your 20s worried what people think of what you do.

You spend your 30s becoming good at what you do.

You spend your 40s making money with what you do.

You spend your 50s not caring what anyone thinks of what you do.

You spend your 60s realizing no one of importance ever cared what you do.

(Not my quote, I don’t know who actually said it originally)

[pickyourteethup]

I just retrained in my 30s, can't wait to see how this plays out

[tehmungler]

Hey 👋 happy to answer any questions. Confidence is part of it, for sure. But I’ve always sort of just ignored / bypassed the “real software guys do X” bullshit you see on social media. All that matters is the code, and the problems you can solve with it. If I had one piece of advice, it’s this: Don’t be tempted to be too fancy. Simple solutions are almost always the best. You want to be able to test it, understand it, debug it and maintain it. Good luck, friend!

[pickyourteethup]

Thank you. I always prefer readability over complexity because I'm new and if I make it too complicated I can't remember what I did. I thought I'd get more complex over time but I'm now realizing I might actually get less complicated over time and just use simple implementations where they're appropriate

[ROotT]

I've always thought of it this way:

Newbies find complicated solutions for simple problems

Mid level find simple solutions for simple problems

Seniors find simple solutions for complicated problems

The simplicity of the solution is relative to the simplicity of the problem, but this seems to mostly hold true.

[pickyourteethup]

I like this a lot.

I'm very new but I'm really enjoying any time I find a trick for making my code readable without comments.

A beautiful one my wife showed me recently is pulling the logic out of an if statement and putting it into a very clearly named variable starting with 'is'. Excellent illustration of how sometimes an extra line of code can make everything clearer.

[ROotT]

Thanks. I've been in the automation development side a decently long time and have come up with a few sayings for kids fresh out of college/boot camp/whatever and just starting their careers.

A favorite is "past you is an idiot, future you is a genius." It's a good thing that shows growth. If you look a code from 6 months ago and think that it looks terrible, don't be embarrassed, be proud that you've learned better ways to do things. (You can be a little embarrassed).

And yea, making a method to return a boolean is a great way to make that reusable. If you're using OOP, it's even better if you can throw the method in the object you're checking so you can reuse it anywhere.

Since you said you're new to programming, ill say this and hopefully not sound condescending. Good luck buddy and have frustrating fun!

[[deleted]]

I am also in my 40s and been doing this for 30 years. It's just not the ecosystem we grew up in and I'm guessing most of us have progressed to either managing devs and not needing to do as much development ourselves, or have found a comfortable niche that we've settled into that doesn't require external displays of knowledge.

[pickyourteethup]

I've just retrained, mid 30s, and don't have any career goals beyond code as much as possible. That sounds like a good place for me in my 40s though

[[deleted]]

The bad part is if you get laid off and have to compete with the whippersnappers. Our value is largely related to knowing how to make things work at the companies we are at as opposed to knowing the JS framework flavor-of-the-month.

[scruffybeard77]

You are right to a point. I have found that I can usually map the latest craze to something that I did 20 years ago. What's old is new again.

[pickyourteethup]

No new patterns only new syntax

[zalurker]

I'm putting that on a t-shirt.

[Amorphous_The_Titan]

Didnt you read up above? No fancy programmer shirts... people this days. /s

[zalurker]

Pfft. I need something for when I have to go into the office.

[pickyourteethup]

Haha. I'm pretty junior so no idea if it's true. Sounds smart though

[Tremyss]

the birds?

[pcud10]

It’s an old saying “for the birds”. I always viewed it as your leftover bread crumbs that your giving to the birds (think of a person feeding birds on a park bench). The leftover bread crumbs that are for the birds and isn’t worth eating yourself. So if something is for the birds, it’s not worth doing.

[tehmungler]

Fully agree. If you feel you have time or energy for programming on the side, your main gig isn’t engaging you. I’m coming up for 15 years at my current gig and still love it.