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1401 points alankay | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source

This request originated via recent discussions on HN, and the forming of HARC! at YC Research. I'll be around for most of the day today (though the early evening).
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fchopin ◴[] No.11943085[source]
Hi, Alan!

Like many here, I'm a big fan of what you've accomplished in life, and we all owe you a great debt for the great designs and features of technologies we use everyday!

The majority of us have not accomplished as much in technology, and many of us, though a minority, are in the top end of the age bell curve. I'm in that top end.

I've found over the years that I've gone from being frustrated with the churn of software/web development, to completely apathetic about it, to wanting something else- something more meaningful, and then to somewhat of an acceptance that I'm lucky just to be employed and making what I do as an older developer.

I find it very difficult to have the time and energy to focus on new technologies that come out all of the time, and less and less able as my brain perhaps is less plastic to really get into the latest JavaScript framework, etc.

I don't get excited anymore, don't have the motivation, ability, or time to keep up with things like the younger folk. Also, I've even gotten tired of mentoring them, especially as I become less able and therefore less respected.

Have you ever had or known someone that had similar feelings of futility or a serious slowdown in their career? If so, what worked/what didn't and what advice could you provide?

Thank you for taking the time to read and respond to everyone you have here. It definitely is much appreciated!

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mikekchar ◴[] No.11953276[source]
I'm a fair bit closer to the right hand side of the age curve than the left. My advice: Look at the brevity of Alan Kay's responses. When I was young I would have soared past them looking for the point. Now I see that one sentence and I weep. Why didn't anyone say that 20 years ago?

Maybe they did. I was too busy being frustrated with the churn of software development. All my time and energy was focused on new technologies that came out all the time. My young plastic brain spent it's flexibility absorbing the latest framework, etc.

Now that I have lost the motivation, ability and time to keep up with things like the younger folk, I can finally listen to the older folk (hopefully while there are still folk older than me to listen to).

These days I'm trying just to write code. All those young people have soared past the wisdom of their elders looking for the point. It's still there. Don't look at the new frameworks, look at what people were doing 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years ago. How does it inform what you are doing?

I hope that helps! It's a struggle for me too.

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1. mmiller ◴[] No.11957205[source]
I was fortunate to grow up during a time when Alan Kay was a well-known figure in the personal computing world, and while what he said didn't make sense to me at the time, it still interested me intensely, and I always wondered what he meant by what he said. Strangely enough, looking back on my younger experience with computers, I think I actually did get a little bit of what he was talking about. It's just that I came to understand that little bit independently from listening to him. I didn't realize he was talking about the same thing. It wasn't until I got older, and got to finally see his talks through internet video that I finally started seeing that, and realizing more things by listening to him at length. Having the chance to correspond with him, talk about those things more in-depth, helped as well.

The way I look at it is just take in how fortunate you are to have your realizations when you have them (I've had my regrets, too, that I didn't "get" them sooner), and take advantage of them as much as you can. That's what I've tried to do.