I am really fascinated by this article, and hope more research is done. I'm not near as old as those candidates, but still feel the effect. The older I have gotten, the harder it is to remember things or learn on the fly.
I remember being 21 at a company, and claimed, and could, write anything they wanted. The older members slowed me down with their inability to understand, well, to me.
But I was writing awful code. To me it was beautiful and worked fine, but as I learned more in years coming I learned design practices and testability, which were nonexistent.
I think this is normal, but to me, sad. I have learned some bit of wisdom in these years, but can admit my brain isn't as fast as it once was. Where's the divide, where do I go? I'm a software engineer, that one day will be replaced with a much younger, headstrong kid, who is much more productive, just as I was back then.
"The older I have gotten, the harder it is to remember things or learn on the fly."
I've found recently (I'm 51) that my ability to remember the names of people has got a lot better - something that I used to be terrible at. I'm not aware of any areas where my memory has got noticeably worse, not that I can remember anyway.
This might be a function of increased practice with socializing, and thereby increasing your "social IQ". I am in awe of Bill Clinton's famous ability to recall the name of every person of note he has ever met, even years later, and pick up the thread of conversation where they left off without skipping a beat. In shorter timeframes like an evening, he recalls everyone's first name he meets at a gathering (I've read of 40+ individuals recalled), what they talked about, and uses this skill to circulate the room and say goodbye to everyone.
I figured out this skill is like a muscle; use it or lose it. The more I put myself out there and greeted people and actively listened to them, the greater my recall ability strengthened over time. Personally, it helps me recall better if I take an active, compassionate interest in the person; somehow, the emotion makes the recall more persistent for me, but YMMV on what techniques help.
If you are raising young children, I've read that you start this skill early by asking the children before each party/gathering that they are expected to learn the name of one new person they have never met before, learn one fact about that new person, and remember the names of everyone they already know from before (children's parties usually are planned enough that a list of most everyone is known in advance, making this part easier). After the party, the children then describe everyone they met, the one new person they met, and what they talked about.
I never devoted any effort to learning how to listen until the past few years. It makes a huge difference in having a good conversation. It's lots of fun to bring back what someone said earlier, often in a humorous way.
It helps to show interest in your conversation partner, not as technique of influence, but because people can be generally more interesting if you pay attention.
The number one indicator of poor listening for me is holding a response in my head and just waiting until the other person finishes talking so I can spew my wisdom. Taking an improv class or three helps a lot in learning to listen.
Of a similar age and can also remember names pretty well - but only because I have developed tricks to do so.
I have been learning Spanish for the past year and find it incredibly difficult to retain things I would have found easier when I was young.
With numbers and general vocabulary I find the same tricks I use for names works OK but for rules of grammar (which are absolutely essential for speaking Spanish fluently) these tricks are of no use at all.
One bizarre thing that I can't remember is names of plants and trees - a bit unfortunate as we've just purchased a house with a decent sized garden and I've taken up gardening.
But I've never been able to remember names of plant and trees even though I generally have a ridiculously good memory for "useless trivia" as my wife puts it. :-)
Fluid intelligence decreases with age, but crystallized intelligence continues to grow. You (metaphorical you) really are slower than the younger, headstrong kid. All hope is not lost though, you're still valuable on the market, you just present a different value proposition than you did in your youth.
As I get older, I desire to be less random and more precise. I don't think I am smarter or dumber than I was 20 years ago. I used to "ship it" faster, but now I realize it's because I didn't really understand the problem.
> You (metaphorical you) really are slower than the younger, headstrong kid
It pains me to think that others are put off by this. My old self was indeed much faster, and had plenty more stamina, but all that means I could make the wrong decision at half the speed for twice the time. I wouldn't go back if I could.
And employers recognize this. There's a reason senior developers get paid more than junior developers. And there's also a difference why those two groups are often given different roles.
Different industry (chef here), but a similar experience. I wanted to try everything and thought my way was faster, now I'm older and more experienced I realise I wasted so much time on little things, and didn't grasp the big picture.
I have worked in software too, although I started later, and I think that's just how things go. As a chef I don't (edit) fear newer chef's, I know they have a lot to learn, and from my (limited) experience coding, I (would like to haha) assume it's the same.
You said it yourself, though. You were more productive by LOC but you weren't more effective. There's a reason we don't start out as senior devs and regress into juniors as we age. The more we know, the more we know about the things we don't know.
At the same time, don't let that experience weigh you down. Try to embrace breaking out of your comfort zone like you did when you were young.
I remember being 21 at a company, and claimed, and could, write anything they wanted. The older members slowed me down with their inability to understand, well, to me.
But I was writing awful code. To me it was beautiful and worked fine, but as I learned more in years coming I learned design practices and testability, which were nonexistent.
I think this is normal, but to me, sad. I have learned some bit of wisdom in these years, but can admit my brain isn't as fast as it once was. Where's the divide, where do I go? I'm a software engineer, that one day will be replaced with a much younger, headstrong kid, who is much more productive, just as I was back then.