|
Most, but not all, of the 35 and under developers I know are great at memorizing and churning out code. But often with little thought to how manageable the code is, how brittle it is, or how OO it is.
There is so much more to software development than coding, though coding well is definitely a must at any age.
What I notice lacking the most is the ability to see, design, and code efficient, reusable, maintainable solutions to the business goals in a given software project. Just code something quick and dirty, throw it out there, hope it passes QA, and then hope you have moved on before the hack you did becomes a maintenance or extension problem. That seems to be a common problem with the 35 and under developers. But fortunately, not all.
|
|
|
|
|
How many trips have you made around the Sun?
|
|
|
|
|
Nonsense!
I know a lot of people working on mobile development (mostly games) and at least half of them are over 35. It's not all about "crunch", although that was one of the reasons I got out of games dev* (in my 50's).
And it's most definitely not the case that younger means smarter, especially when it comes to doing clever optimisations to squeeze out the last bit of performance or to reduce memory usage.
[ * when I say out, I mean professionally - I still do indy development at home, including mobile stuff... ]
Days spent at sea are not deducted from one's alloted span - Phoenician proverb
|
|
|
|
|
Wow, someone's got up on the wrong side of bed.
- Starting wages have risen faster than top wages, so your young colleagues make as much as you did with 5 years' experience.
- The more senior you get, the higher the expectations, not just in terms of experience, but in terms of IQ. Companies try hard not to hire senior people unless they are unicorns.
- Companies don't want to spend money on training. They you will get the hint and leave, once your skills need an update.
This is what causes the developer shortage. Sigh.
So yeah, I guess I did too.
|
|
|
|
|
I can write code as well as you, you young whipper-snapper! (I'm 59). The only issue with me is that I need lots of naps! 
If you think hiring a professional is expensive, wait until you hire an amateur! - Red Adair
|
|
|
|
|
I'm 46 and need all the naps I can get.
|
|
|
|
|
Mobile users don't see the poll on the homepage
If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn't. — Lyall Watson
|
|
|
|
|
We (me and you) are too old. 
|
|
|
|
|
You don't know what old is. I learned to program my first computer in 1966, pure machine code keyed in instruction by instruction on the front panel.
|
|
|
|
|
I was carrying after my grandmother these: [^] but knew nothing of programming then...
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
|
|
|
|
|
The first system I worked on (LEO III/6: Leo Computers Society. Leo 3 photos[^] ) had magnetic tape but no random access storage. Main memory of 16K and a processor that played sounds so you could hear when certain regular programs were nearing the end of processing.
|
|
|
|
|
Ahhh what we're talking about here is "real computers". Not terribly dissimilar to the ICL System 4's I cut my teeth on in the late 70's. Curiously enough, one of the links on that page was to an Aussie ICL/Leo reunion and behold! there were four guys that I worked with when I was an (ICL) engineer in Melbourne from '88 to 93....
If your neighbours don't listen to The Ramones, turn it up real loud so they can.
“We didn't have a positive song until we wrote 'Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue!'” ― Dee Dee Ramone
"The Democrats want my guns and the Republicans want my porno mags and I ain't giving up either" - Joey Ramone
|
|
|
|
|
All the guys in the photos of LEO III/6 were people I worked with when they moved the system to a new centre in south Manchester.
|
|
|
|
|
Sir, that does not count: you aged very well, and I know you are interested in mobile development.
|
|
|
|
|
But at my age I'm not very mobile. 
|
|
|
|
|
lol 
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremy Falcon
|
|
|
|
|
|
I can't make a claim that far back but I can say my first professional software was in COBOL on punched cards. My debugger was about 6-8 inches above my shoulders. Today I work embedded C and love every minute, even the crunches.
I cringe at these new wonder tools that crop up about once a week that do everything that once required discipline. I imagine these are for kids who need to keep one eye on their phone. Where will you be when something goes wrong or when that tool isn't there? "Never happen", the young one will say with complete confidence and unearned arrogance.
Youth is wasted on the young.
|
|
|
|
|
Oh yes, didn't you just love writing out all those DATA DIVISION picture statements?
|
|
|
|
|
Ha! Yes, the pic clause, casting out all ambiguity. Did we even do type casting? If we did, I don't even remember. And the other three divisions (and of course the sections within), sure. I haven't seen that language in decades and often wonder what it morphed into. I remember considering myself "advanced" when I embraced the 'perform ... depending on ...'. Seemed so elegant.
|
|
|
|
|
Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter wrote: hype over mobile not real?
Mobile statistics are surprising indeed.
It does appear strange to me though, mobile developers would surely have coded for desktops too, right?
|
|
|
|
|
I'm not sure - I have a kid here, who started with Angular...
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
|
|
|
|
|
The mobile hype is real, but it's mostly a cash-grab centered on getting people addicted to gacha games, and not a lot of people are needed to run that scam.
|
|
|
|
|
I'm beginning to feel too old.
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
