On Getting Older in Tech
Not a bad post at all and it definitely hit home for me.<p>I&#x27;m 43 and have been doing professional development for 20 years (actually 20 years). I moved permanently to Saigon just 1.5 months ago. I&#x27;m teaching the Pivotal software engineering process (agile &#x2F; extreme) to a 100 person consultancy full of really smart ~20 year olds who didn&#x27;t know or understand process at all.<p>I keep up on all the latest tech and I have a youthful mind and body (most people think I&#x27;m in my 30&#x27;s). I&#x27;m the oldest guy in the company and the only American here. This has quickly lead to a lot of personal mentoring on many levels, not just software, but life in general. The culture in Vietnam is strong and my team wants to learn from me. It is very exciting and new for all of us. It has been an amazing experience so far and I look forward to the future.<p>The best additional advice? Just be nice. It is so simple. The culture here is to never raise your voice or get mad in public, so I&#x27;ve taken it to the other extreme and I just smile and laugh a lot. Even when the servers are melting down. Viet are shy and have poor personal communication skills. By being friendly and nice, they have learned to trust me and that has opened up them up a lot. It has infected my entire team and improved moral almost over night.<p>Being older has a lot of advantages. I&#x27;m loving my 40&#x27;s way more than my 20&#x27;s. Cheers! =)