

Becoming an expert 30+ - celljunk-e

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

------
cafard
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-e
That's cool. Thanks for the feedback!

------
wongwf82
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-e
How are you at guitar?

~~~
wongwf82
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.

------
adamtaa
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-e
Thanks for the feedback/encouragement!

------
chris_dcosta
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.

------
srehnborg
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-e
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.

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

------
stray
Fuck what they think.

