Old Geek Jobs: fighting against ageism in the industry
It&#x27;s too bad that many of us(in general, not on HN) are too lazy to judge a person based on what they actually offer vs a number attributed to them. People who are 50+ are perfectly capable at learning and writing good code, and it really isn&#x27;t hard to recognize someone with a sharp mind.<p>However, lots of people allow their minds and bodies to rot as they get older. My parents, as much as I love them, are not very employable at this point(at least not when compared to a younger candidate). They don&#x27;t get much exercise and spend a large chunk of the day sitting in front of the boob tube. They are smart people, but their ability to learn new things has gone way down, and I have noticed they are a little more gullible than they used to be. Meanwhile, I have friends who are in their 50s and they have the energy, motivation, and learning abilities of someone in their 20s.<p>I wonder if this has something to do with the exercise they get, and the lack of TV watching. The calorie defecit from both those things probably slows their aging a tad too. I think if you want to be programming at age 50, you can easily add years, perhaps decades to your youthfulness by taking some basic care of both body and mind. It may seem like an obvious statement, but most people don&#x27;t actually do this, and it shows in people my age who have the habits of my parents while also drinking heavily and smoking way too much. It&#x27;s kind of spooky when I see people who were once youthful looking, in their 20s, quickly start to look like they are in their 40s because they don&#x27;t really take care of themselves beyond basic hygiene.