I started writing software in 1984. Over the years I worked with many languages, technologies, and tools. I have been in leadership positions since the early 2000s, and in executive roles since 2014.
Vincenzo,
Recent studies have demonstrated that the human brain does NOT start to decline past age 25 as we thought it did. It actually keeps on growing! In other words, there is no physiological reason for learning to stop.
What really happens is that we become more resilient to let information in, because new information has to contend with the old stuff we stored.
It's like if our experience makes it harder for new knowledge to stick because new knowledge gets judged and often rejected by the old knowledge. While this is a good mechanism to apply experience to life, it does get in the way in tech.
The trick is to maintain the fundamentals, but question the details you know, and assume that there is always a better way. A better way that somebody probably found, and that you can learn.
The type of fundamentals that you can maintain a bit more closely are things like CS fundamentals, lessons learned personally, things about team work, processes, shipping software, human needs, etc. That stuff is sort of timeless, but it does evolve.
The stuff that is always temporary is stuff like languages, libraries, and frameworks. Those things are like cars. There is always a new model the next year, and it is going to be better than the previous model. Most of the time, at least.
If you look at it that way and assume that everything changes for the better, you won't get stuck in defending old knowledge, and new knowledge will flow into your brain without finding unhealthy resistance.
So... it is all about the attitude toward new things. Fight like hell any temptation to say "this new stuff is junk, in the old days..." It is tempting, but it doesn't work well in tech. Consider anything that exists today as old within 6 months, and keep looking for emerging technologies and trends.
I started writing software in 1984. Over the years I worked with many languages, technologies, and tools. I have been in leadership positions since the early 2000s, and in executive roles since 2014.
Vincenzo,
Recent studies have demonstrated that the human brain does NOT start to decline past age 25 as we thought it did. It actually keeps on growing! In other words, there is no physiological reason for learning to stop.
What really happens is that we become more resilient to let information in, because new information has to contend with the old stuff we stored.
It's like if our experience makes it harder for new knowledge to stick because new knowledge gets judged and often rejected by the old knowledge. While this is a good mechanism to apply experience to life, it does get in the way in tech.
The trick is to maintain the fundamentals, but question the details you know, and assume that there is always a better way. A better way that somebody probably found, and that you can learn.
The type of fundamentals that you can maintain a bit more closely are things like CS fundamentals, lessons learned personally, things about team work, processes, shipping software, human needs, etc. That stuff is sort of timeless, but it does evolve.
The stuff that is always temporary is stuff like languages, libraries, and frameworks. Those things are like cars. There is always a new model the next year, and it is going to be better than the previous model. Most of the time, at least.
If you look at it that way and assume that everything changes for the better, you won't get stuck in defending old knowledge, and new knowledge will flow into your brain without finding unhealthy resistance.
So... it is all about the attitude toward new things. Fight like hell any temptation to say "this new stuff is junk, in the old days..." It is tempting, but it doesn't work well in tech. Consider anything that exists today as old within 6 months, and keep looking for emerging technologies and trends.
that was a great answer, thanks a lot
My pleasure!!