
An 84-year-old Japanese app developer - raleighm
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Meet-the-84-year-old-Japanese-app-developer-who-inspired-Tim-Cook2
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jakub_g
Some quotes I found interesting regarding the usage of tech by elderly people:

> I explained my app. "Since senior citizens are not good at swiping," I said,
> "I made it possible for them to play by tapping."

> I think AI speakers are helpful to the elderly. Once the initial setup is
> complete, we can use them even if we become bedridden.

> What we need are features that support people from the AI side. One example
> would be a function that informs users that evacuation instructions have
> been issued due to heavy rain. Or when you feel a pain in your chest, a
> function that dials 119 (Japan's emergency number) would be helpful.

~~~
The_suffocated
> I explained my app. "Since senior citizens are not good at swiping," I said,
> "I made it possible for them to play by tapping."

I have a similar experience. A few years ago I implemented a traditional
Chinese dominoes game on Android for my grandma. (To date she still plays the
game every night for two hours.) When I let her tested the game, the first
thing I observed was that she was poor at dragging the dominoes to the table.
So, I quickly changed dragging to tapping. (Tap a dominoe once to choose it
and tap the table once to play it. To cancel a wrong choice, tap the chosen
dominoe again.)

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michaelangerman
I have been programming for 45 years and started at age 15, the key to make it
fun, forever, is just work on coding projects you love doing. Of course, you
have to be in a situation that enables you to do that, but if you are lucky
enough to be there, then I can see someone coding for another 20 years or most
of your life.

~~~
ChuckNorris89
How do you solve the problem where you love coding but not the problems you
have to solve at work?

Where I live, every place is the same, Jira sweatshop mentality, just put out
a fire or solve as many stories as quickly as possible to maintain velocity,
with whatever tools someone higher than you imposed because it was convenient
at the time.

When I come home I'm done with coding for the day and I have no time to code
stuff I like as I'm investing it in taking care of myself physically and
socially to counteract the negative effects of being on a chair at work in
front of a monitor with headphones on 8 hours a day.

~~~
leeoniya
> Every place is the same

this is false.

look into smaller businesses who only need 1-5 coders. you will get paid well,
do interesting stuff and have a lot of say in your stack and tools. usually
these companies do not produce software as their deliverable but need good
internal software.

e.g. i work for < 50M/yr e-commerce company that manufactures in the DIY/home
remodeling industry. i report directly to the CEO, code our full stack and
admin our VPS linode server. we have internal voip systems that get
integrated, physical production hardware (scales, scanners, etc), inventory
tracking, fulfillment, amazon integration and a whole lot more. i get to touch
it all.

~~~
ChuckNorris89
Where I live(Germany), the business who only need 2 developers already have
them. All the job ads are only from big/medium companies and it's not worth
working for the medium sized ones as you have all the downside of the big
corps with none of the perks.

~~~
smnscu
I agree, actually. It's so hard to find a good job that doesn't pay like crap
in Germany (I used to live in Cologne and Berlin). Try contracting with UK
companies if you can find a remote gig, my QoL went significantly up after I
stopped working with German companies.

~~~
kayoone
define "pay like crap". My experience in Berlin is different, depending on
your experience 60-90K EUR is possible. Combined with the relatively low cost
of living in Berlin, you can live comfortably. I don't see London paying
significantly more, while being a lot more expensive.

~~~
smnscu
That's exactly what I meant by that. I've been in a few companies and I don't
think the compensation structure for SWEs is fair for most of the German
market. I do agree that Berlin is still fairly cheap.

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cerberusss
I really wish I'll be like that at old age. I'm now in my forties, and since
the age of 12, have had great fun programming. It's now my job, but I hope it
doesn't get ruined. Regularly I see people here that have become jaded, and no
longer derive pleasure from coding. This lady really inspires me and makes me
wish my future contains loads of interesting programming problems to solve.

~~~
novok
The non jaded are working and not wasting time whining on HN :D

Or they don't want to waste their energy arguing with an angry internet
random.

~~~
cerberusss
Very good point, thank you!

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lordnacho
This is awesome, and it will become more prevalent as the generations that
grew up with computers start to get older. Your body may get weaker but you
can at least stave off the same happening to your mind by doing brain stuff.
And there's a childlike satisfaction to coding that I reckon everyone enjoys,
a new challenge whenever you do it.

I certainly hope to still be able to do it in my old age.

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olingern
> Wakamiya also teaches "Excel art," which uses the spreadsheet software to
> create designs.

I've worked at a couple of Japanese companies in Tokyo and am truly amazed at
what they can do with Excel. Most recently, I had a co-worker create UI
mockups in excel. It wasn't Sketch / Figma level of design -- but it was
pretty effective at communicating what he needed.

On the other hand, some things are just down right atrocious like internal
company pages with everyone's name and picture.

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tempsy
We really need to address the rampant ageism problem in the software industry.
I don't know what it will take but I see it as big of a problem as diversity &
inclusion issues that impact women and minorities.

~~~
fortran77
We can't even solve it on Hacker News! Many threads complain about old people
taking up resources that younger people want. I've even been "Ok, Boomered"
several times here. I'm 57.

~~~
schoen
Did the HN moderators accept that?

~~~
dang
We don't allow that kind of thing, but we also don't see everything that gets
posted here.

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cryptozeus
(Have not read the article) IMO age is not a factor on internet

