Becoming an expert 30+

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5498398

by celljunk-e • 13 years ago

6 14 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Has anyone here become an "Expert" in their field when learning a skill at an advanced age? I'm not giving up on my passion, but I'm just wondering if any of you guys/gals have become a respected peer to developers who started much younger than you did?

stray• 13 years ago

Fuck what they think.

adamtaa• 13 years ago

Age has no bearing on expertise. The easiest way to become an expert is to practice. The best way to enjoy what you are practicing is to do it because you want to. Now, you just have to spend an obsessive amount of time. Someone will invariably ask you a question which, depending on where you are in your obsessive amount of time, you will be able to answer. Welcome to being an expert, level 1. Keep going, for as long as you like, answering questions as you go. The more good answers you give the more expertise you are displaying. Don't worry, you will get some questions wrong. Study, implement, read, learn, repeat. Like I said, Age has no bearing on expertise. Just dedication and passion(/facepalm) .

celljunk-e5• 13 years ago

Thanks for the feedback/encouragement!

gabriel• 13 years ago

Only the good ones will.

But this has nothing to do with age. I believe it has to do more with drive. Or possibly intrigue.

Whatever the word you use, it is a problem of the mind.

The biggest thing I look in with my peers is their capability to push themselves, which also pushes the others around them. The former is a goal, the latter is a side-effect.

Reminds me so much of Hamming's You and Your Research: http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html

Oh, and yes, I'm in my early 30's and I suppose that makes me "Old", and I garner respect by the fact that I'm good at what I do and I tend to get shit right. But I also can act as a bridge between those who are younger and possibly less experienced (age != experience) and those who value age.

To be honest, I prefer to make a switch in "expertise" every five to seven years. This is a goal of mine to keep pushing myself otherwise I will get bored.

celljunk-e5• 13 years ago

I don't get bored easily, but I really enjoy learning new things(this can be a blessing or a curse).

srehnborg• 13 years ago

I think one advantage that you bring to the table in the expertise field is you have much more experience that you can leverage than a younger person. While you might not be a true expert in that one field, having a more exposure from years of experience gives you the ability to bring other knowledge to the table and apply it to your expert field.

celljunk-e5• 13 years ago

I have seen this as I have a lot of work experience, but limited dev chops relatively speaking. I find myself being able to solve problems, but implementation is slower than I'd like it to be.

cafard• 13 years ago

Languages learned before 20: a little Fortran IV.

Languages learned between 30 and 40: Assembler, Pascal, C, C++, Perl, PL/SQL, T-SQL.

Languages learned between 40 and 50: Python

Languages learned since 50: PHP. (OK, I'm slowing down...)

Am I an expert in all of the above? No. Have I done very useful things with some of them? Yes.

celljunk-e5• 13 years ago

That's cool. Thanks for the feedback!

narayankpl• 13 years ago

"become a respected peer to developers"... Why not respected peer to a Project Manager or...? Why focus so narrowly?

wongwf822• 13 years ago

I think it is possible if you don't do it by yourself at home. For example, I'm joining Ruby on Rails hacknights and the community welcomes you to come up with something you want to build or built in another language and spend the night building it with the team. My guess if after doing it for 1 year plus you will have a network of friends (some who will offer you the job since they know what you built in that year).

You can be quite advanced in that particular skill if you practice enough for a long time. I picked up guitar when I was 27 when I started taking classes. Then it is up to your level of interest and commitment to reach a certain level.

'Expert' is up to interpretation. I'm only as expert as the other person who know and have practised less. When you think you've arrived at Expert level, you will stop advancing as much.

celljunk-e5• 13 years ago

How are you at guitar?

wongwf822• 13 years ago

I discovered I could be really good at it, whereas I previously thought I was too old to learn musical instrument. Just have to find the correct way to learn that suits me. But time is so expensive that I'd rather spend my time on my biggest passion which is programming.

chris_dcosta• 13 years ago

Age could mean broader experience. You may not be able to crack out code at the rate of a 20 year old, but you will see the architecture more clearly which is a different vision. It allows you to take decisions knowing what's about to come, meaning you can be one step ahead of others even if your fingers aren't quite as quick.

The trick is not to rely too much on experience and learn very quickly when the ground has shifted, and adjust your knowledge accordingly. I've seen many a peer fall over on the insistence that their experience is the only point of view when in fact technology or techniques have moved on.

Becoming an expert 30+

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