You wouldn’t (I hope) write something ascribing specific behaviors to all female devs, or Indian devs, right? So please don’t do the same for older ones.
I’m in my forties and quite capable of getting caught up in the excitement over a new technology. On the other hand I think I’ve matured out of the stubbornness I had in my twenties. I’ve met young developers who get so caught up in the mastery of their first tech stack that they aren’t ready to go back to being a beginner again, and haven’t seen enough ways of solving problems to recognize that what they think is the only right way to solve a problem could possibly have an alternative.
If you’re looking for ‘use boring technology’ enthusiasts and people open to changing their mind, go out and interview and hire for those attributes, wherever you find them - but don’t assume they’re only going to be found in older developers. And if you’re looking for someone to explore new technology, consider that an older dev might be just as enthusiastic as a junior, rather than assuming.
Because 'Choose Boring Technology' was originally an essay/talk given by Dan McKinley[1] describing the lessons he had learned at Etsy, which he left in 2014, approximately 12 years into his career. His strongest motivating example of a case where he 'chose boring technology' is a system his team built in 2010, when he would have been, I think, around 30. Is that 'a certain age'?
... except that "things should be done RIGHT", "my professor would hate these hacks", "why are you using boring-tech when everyone else on the intertubes is using OMGTEKK", etc etc.
I think the "stubborn" label on older men is very similar to the "bitch" label on women: whenever one meets a person who can actually fight his/her corner with calm and rationality in a way that is not easily assailable by "common feelings", it is rationalised as s/he being fundamentally unreasonable, not as my arguments being weak.
100% true. It's the dichotomy of leadership. Typically in engineering environments, the debate will be to take a risk or not. Risks can have rewards, but they can also have costs. The old guy knows the costs, but the rewards are less certain. The young guy only has a fuzzy idea on the rewards and the risks. As a leader, you have to look at both sides and assess if the reward is worth the risk. Sometimes that means telling the old guy, you're right... but I want to try anyways.
Haha, that never stops the ones I work with. They just dig in on the exciting idea they had.
That's because they have experiences, the experiences from past failures. I don't think that's anything wrong.
That said, older devs can be very stubborn. If in the interview I detect that I'm not going to be able to work well with the person. I might pass.