The current free ebook is located at this link:
http://haggishell.com/ridgeproject.pdf

For details about the ebook, click here.

140628. Mr. Meow discusses his PC setup. I collected books. Other kids collected rocks. These kids today collect tech.

But things haven't changed too much. Mr. Meow is into AM radios and vacuum tubes. So were Ken Kiraly and I. On the other hand, today, AM radios are vacuum tubes are nostalgia grandparent types of items.

<mrmeow> i don't like the kindle. extremely limiting rom.

<OldCoder> Isn't the Fire considered a good Christmas gift for kids? Nancy got one for her son in 2011. He asked me if Ken could give him one :-) I said, no.

<mrmeow> meh if the kid isnt like me it's fine. i'm the guy who prefers the stock android look and feel. and i like having root access to all my stuff.

<mrmeow> time to watch as everyone on /g/ makes fun of my setup
<OldCoder> Your setup is good
<mrmeow> heh thanks
<OldCoder> We've had this talk. When I was your age, I had a calculator that could spell my name: “808”
<OldCoder> Whee! :P
<mrmeow> lol
<OldCoder> The nice part was that it worked either right-side up or upside down.

<OldCoder> We did things with the calculators like series to see if they would converge or not. The tension built. Would it trend to 1.0 ? 2.0 ? Infinity? Inquiring minds wanted to know.

Mr. Meow comments on the photos below:

i inherited all this stuff.

citadel is the dimension e310. earth is the other dell box. both now run debian testing. earth is my main server. citadel is my test server currently. but it might be a media center.

my tablet is kind of high end. well for 2013. i run weechat in gnu screen on my server. i use weechat-android on my tablet.

citadel is from my grandmother. she got it in 2006. was her computer until 2012 i think. it always ran xp. ran arch for a week or two. now it runs debian.

earth was my dad's old desktop. he got it in 2004. he stopped using it in 2007 or so and now just uses laptops. ran windows xp until i switched it to arch linux a year and a half ago. i switched it to debian today.

i'm going to keep earth. not getting rid of my trusty dell desktop yet. going to take it apart and reassemble it though.

probably won't take the cpu out. because i don't have any thermal paste.

earth is a nas. samba-server; hosts my music. earth just has a 70gb and a 40gb hard drive. citadel has a single 160gb drive. i make do with them :)

the laptop was my dad's also. he got it in 2009. runs windows vista and arch linux. switching it to windows 7 eventually.

i might also get a 486. i don't know the specs of it. i know someone who has a lot of 486's and crts and stuff. could've gotten a crt. the glory of 800x600 and 1024x768. i want a DEC VT100.

the thing by the desk is an iphone. it's not mine. it's my sister's. well we share it. we just throw it on the ground trying to break it since it's useless. could jailbreak it and install linux. but it would be slow. the thing is like 600 mhz. 256 mb ram.

the other small device is a tv remote.

i'm going to get an old tube radio sometime. my grandparents have an AM transistor radio. it's pretty cool. i don't like the sound of transistors as much as vacuum tubes. the glow of the tubes makes it more pleasurable.

you know back then these old radios and tvs are like a work of art. made of wood. i just like vintage electronics in general. old radios look nice. i love the glow the vacuum tubes make.

i kind of prefer the sound of analog compared to digital. i like vinyl records a lot. considering buying some and a turntable.

140628. This is a copy of a letter to John Perrott, a Family Law Attorney at Thomas Chase Stutzman in San Jose, California.

To: John H. Perrott
STATE BAR #213080
THOMAS CHASE STUTZMAN
1625 The Alameda, Suite 626
San Jose, CA 95126

Regarding: Michael T. Bonetto
STATE BAR #252742
HOGE, FENTON, JONES & APPEL, INC.
Sixty South Market Street, Suite 1400
San Jose, California 95113

Dear John,

Upon review of your letter of Tuesday, June 24, I find that your suggestion regarding Michael Bonetto of Hoge Fenton strikes my fancy. I'll probably proceed as you suggest in the letter though this statement does not constitute a commitment to do so.

Specifically, I will prepare a document which explains politely, in precise detail, that I am entitled under the terms of past Agreements, as edited by me prior to signing and with such edits having been to agreed to by all parties, to have the following two people served directly, without the use of Michael Bonetto as intermediary, for purposes of notice of change of address, or for other legitimate and reasonable purposes:

1. Jim Kiraly, an abuser and a perjurer believed to be involved in one or more felonies (e.g., highly prosecutable violations of CFAA), past or present resident of 32 La Gaviota, Pismo Beach, California.

2. Tom Kiraly, Executive Vice President of Sheridan Healthcare and a perjurer believed to be involved in one or more felonies (e.g., highly prosecutable violations of CFAA), who Michael Bonetto has indicated to me either resides at 3611 Glenview Avenue, Glenview, Kentucky or maintains a residence at that address.

I will have Michael Bonetto served with a copy of the document and request in a friendly manner that he state any objection he has to its contents. If he objects, or does not object, either way, I will have more to work with.

In Coding, I refer to this approach as “divide by two”. After just ten iterations of “divide by two”, a Coder has narrowed the scope of a problem by over a thousand to one.

The letter to John Perrott continues below the photo. For a large version of the photo, click here.

Letter to John Perrott, Family Law Attorney, San Jose, California continues:

As a related point, I see that you did not object to having the service address changed to your own address. Note: This would be your business address as opposed to your residence address.

This might be because you're aware that further actions are possible but unlikely. Everybody involved is probably aware that if there is a “next time”, it will not be as light-hearted and pleasant for everybody involved.

If I do switch the service address to you, the change will most likely not be permanent.

It is my intention, stated here in writing and with the intention of unambiguous reaffirmation in public venues, that I will ultimately discontinue compliance with the demand, extorted as part of a series of prosecutable crimes committed by or involving Jim Kiraly and Tom Kiraly, that I provide these two people with an address for the purposes of service and/or notices of change of address.

Prior to such a step, I may change the service address one or more times. Upon each change, until I make the decision to discontinue compliance, I will comply and, in fact, have these people served directly with notice of change of address each time, as I am permitted to do under the terms of the Agreements.

Regards, Robert (the Old Coder)

For a large version of the photo below, click here. The photo is distributed under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial No Derivative Works 3.0. For attribution purposes, the rights holder is OldCoder. For more information about the license, click here.

140628. This is an exchange between a developer in Poland named Marek and myself. There is no connection between this Marek and my editor at Intel Magazin (sic).

From Marek to Robert:

I've just read (translated) article of your history. I agree that neccesary (and good) connections, proper specialization and having some other popular skills is very important if you want to have good and stable job. Congratulations that you bravely describe your position and trying to change it to have better position.

From my position, as a software developer (and owner of micro-company in Poland, redacted) i see that developer can go into following ways: — work for others (as a freelander, contractor ..etc) &mdash work for his own (as a company owner, own product seller ..etc)

But when you work for your own and get some success it's hard to back to the contractor way.

I've also developed some specific skills that concern creating Cad-8like application for Windows, Windows Mobile, and now I'm working on Android version (mostly for GPS measurement and geo-inventarization, written in Delphi/C++). I've written some apps for calculations for geology/road industry but this industry in my country don't offer stability (specially when you agree for some delayed payment). Unless you have strong sales skills or good salesman or very popular product, you have to split you time between your own projects and freelance projects that brings you money for current development,taxes and for common live.

My problem was focus on very old environments, like Delphi and C++ Builder 6 and focusing on two industries as product provider (geodesy / road industry / geology). I've used to create common desktop (and mobile) apps, and faced almost year ago that my skills didn't fit current market! I realized that despite of my age (33) i'm feeling dinosaur in IT :)

So I think, I can understand your position. One develop some skills, is passionate, have good products but even many years of development doesn't guarantee success. The success also require proper connections, PR-skills, marketing knowledge... much to say...

Kind regards

From Robert to Marek:

Dear Marek,

Please excuse the delay in my response. Thank you for your kind remarks regarding the article.

You said, “Congratulations that you bravely describe your position and trying to change it to have better position.” This is appreciated.

You added, “When you work for your own and get some success it's hard to back to the contractor way.”

I tell the startupers who are beginning their careers to maintain a “day job”. To pursue dreams at night. For some, both parts work out. They realize a decent income from freelance contracts and are able to hope for the “brass ring” as well. This is a U.S. metaphor.

You listed your skills, noted that some might be aging, and said, “I realized that despite of my age (33) I'm feeling dinosaur in IT :)”

Even so, you have the opportunity to reinvent yourself. At 33, new careers are quite possible. Additionally, it sounds as though you “have a handle” on the importance of maintaining balance in different areas. I did not understand this until I was much older.

This was due to a factor that is not discussed in the article. I am a high-functioning autistic but I am skilled both with Code and with people in situations that are about teaching or managing information.

I appreciated your letter. Feel free to email me or to join my business channel at Freenode. I wish you luck in your own endeavors.

Regards, Robert (the Old Coder)

140606. It's my birthday.

1. For decades, I disregarded the occasion. I'd work all day on June 5, still be at my desk at midnight, shrug as I turned a year older, and continue working.

I worked far too much.

The woman that bore me, Grace Kiraly of 32 La Gaviota, Pismo Beach, California, of New Life Pismo, and of Saint John's Lutheran, suggested in recent years that I was some type of lazy drunken bum.

The truth is that I worked myself half to death for decades. One year my schedule peaked at about 160 hours per week.

I ended up with nothing to show for the Time that I had sacrificed. Nothing to show for a lifetime.

The most important reason for this was that Jim Kiraly, Vice President of Transamerica, abuser, and a prominent figure at Saint John's Lutheran, came after me. He initiated legal actions out of fear that I'd disclosed abuse to Pastor Ron at New Life Pismo.

2. Jim Kiraly, a violent abuser who is believed to be around young people at Saint John's Lutheran, filed an emergency anti-violence action against me even though I lived 200 miles away, was in a wheelchair, and was not even asked to end communications.

Most communications that I made, by the way, were demands that my abuser stop threatening me.

Jim Kiraly fought to impose an “a priori” gag order on me. I was supposed to pay $5,000 per phone call even to newspaper reporters. I fought back. It cost me my life savings.

There were other factors. Physical illness, for one. Grace Kiraly wanted to believe that it was somehow my fault. My “choice,” to use her word. But I managed to see a rheumatologist this Spring. And I have a diagnosis at last after 13 years.

What happened wasn't my “choice”. Or my fault. Not the abuse 40 years ago. And not the physical pain that started in 2001.

3. The Kiralys lied under oath, broke agreements, and were involved in felonies. All in a belief that somehow money was magic; that it could scrub away the truth.

During the Kiraly Cases, I kept asking... What do they expect to happen? Do they think that what they're done is simply going to go away?

I'm older now. So much older. I understand that they expected exactly this.

People talk to me about “karma”. They say that Jim Kiraly, Grace Kiraly, Tom Kiraly Vice-President of Sheridan Healthcare, and others will face justice at a vague and unspecified future date.

I'm not a fan of vague and unspecified. I have my own little approach. The irony is that it's exactly what Jim Kiraly of SCORE feared.

All that I need to do is tell the truth. To as many parties in government, in the media, from the past, or in churches or neighborhoods as I'm able to contact. Contact over as many years as it takes.

I'm simply an autistic and aging Old Coder who's tired and in physical pain. But, like most people, I'm unique in small ways. In my case, the more people that I talk to, the more patterns I see. Legitimate and reasonable things can be done with patterns.

For related notes of legal significance, attorneys should click here. Thank you.

4. The past few months are a blur. I'll catch up in posts as circumstances permit.

I had some emergency room visits. The breathing-shock issue happened a lot after that. I completed a tutoring program for No Child Left Behind.

There was a Hacker News stunt that brought in 32,000 uniques. Actually, the number may have been much higher; I overlooked something at the time. There were interviews afterward. I especially liked the Intel Corporation article.

I've got temporary access to a patch of dirt where I've planted a garden. It won't be there for long but it's the first real garden I've ever had. The first one that's mine.

The black hen shown below is in the garden. Charles Artisan and I have borrowed her because she loves to eat insects. Charles wakes up the poor bird at midnight and orders her to hunt nocturnal bugs. She doesn't mind. “Cluck, cluck.” Down the hatch they go.

I've met more startupers in real life. I don't know what will come of it but it's interesting to talk to people. I invited one startuper, Twizz, to have lunch with DNA the elderly attorney, the Scottish Bird, and me. If you'd like to see Twizz's venture, here is the link:

http://www.iluvmyplanet.com/

I'm continuing to try to get to know people online and IRL. And to be useful when I can be. I'll close with some remarks that one of my online friends offered me recently:

“i know you have done a whole lot and hypothetically it does get popular id make sure to give you the credit you deserve because you have done tons for the site and helped me along every step of the way so once again thank you”

“its 11:32 i better get some sleep Oldcoder thank for letting me vent and thank you for all you do for me”

For a large version of the photo blow, click here. The photo is distributed under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial No Derivative Works 3.0. For attribution purposes, the rights holder is OldCoder. For more information about the license, click here.

* A Sentimental Mother's Day Reflection *

140511. Today is Mother's Day. My Father's Birthday is somewhere around now as well; give or take a few days. It's an appropriate time to reflect on what these people did to me. Jim Kiraly, Grace Kiraly, Tom Kiraly, and Ken Kiraly. Michael Bonetto, John Perrott, and others who played their roles.

The total cost of the Kiraly Cases was immeasurable in some respects. I lost job opportunities, I was placed under continuous stress for a year, my health was affected, relationships and associations were damaged, and I found it difficult to manage both the cases and my investments.

My net worth fell from close to a quarter of a million dollars, before the Kiraly Cases, to less than legal fees paid at the end.

If I remember correctly, John Perrott, my Family Law Attorney at the time indicated that total damages were in the neighborhood of $500,000. Presently, due to the loss of my home, my prospects for a family of my own, and a future, I see damages as higher. High enough that no check will cover them.

These people stole my Time in the World.

And it was all based on lies. Worse than lies; you can fight lies. But these cases were about innuendo, whispers. Wealth and power flicking away the truth as one flicks away a fly, and how do you fight that?

Grace Kiraly asked me if I needed charity; if I wanted money. I was appalled and I told this person “Absolutely not!” But it's no longer about charity. These people owe me a great deal now. More than money.

These people owe the world the truth. And there is nothing that they can do to avoid payment of this particular debt.

Post continues below the illustration. The illustration is distributed under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial No Derivative Works 3.0. For attribution purposes, the rights holder is Magician Celemis. For more information about the license, click here.

By committing crimes, including felonies *after* the cases were over, the other side has given me the right to do what they tried to prevent: to speak with thousands, in person, in media, or as I wish, about the crimes, about the people who committed them, and about the personal factors that led the people, in each case, to commit them.

Personal factors as in, I will write about anybody that I choose to write about and about any issues that I deem to be relevant to the crimes that these people chose to commit. I have documented the legal basis for some steps elsewhere:

Click here for the Legitimate Purposes list

As part of this, I will speak freely. With whoever I choose to speak with.

I was never going to talk about the abuse. But now I do talk about it; and it feels right. I write differently now. The songs are back after forty years.

They murdered the boy who wrote. His ghost looked out through my eyes late at night and wept. I stood in front of my beloved bookshelves, stolen now by these people, my Father, my Mother, my Brothers, and the Attorneys, and I felt the dead boy's tears at 2:00am in the morning.

But now he is me. And I am him. Perhaps I will be complete at the end, despite what they did to me decades ago. And despite what they've done to me now.

My Parents Jim Kiraly and Grace Kiraly will pass away in a few years; to be clear, for the Attorneys, from natural causes. As they go, sighing in delight as they contemplate the Hell that awaits them, as we choose our own Hells and embrace them, their pleasure as the vomit of Christ, His reaction to lies, covers them will be tempered by the knowledge that the truth, the essence of Christ, remains in the World.

The thought of this makes me smile.

Others have sacrificed my life on an altar composed of their denial. My future is largely gone. I cannot help people as I wished to do. There were so many that I could have helped. But I was knocked down two years ago and cannot get up. The Kiralys have smashed my life. They have taken everything.

I lost my apartment, where I had lived quietly for 25 years, at Christmas. The Kiralys took my home at Christmas. I am a transient now and I may end up homeless. I am weary of the prospect.

So, what is the balance? Will I live? Long enough, I think, to do that which is legitimate and reasonable.

That which is legitimate and reasonable belongs to me.

140511. This is a copy of a message to IPTers, former employees of a long-dead company named Information Processing Techniques. Note: If you know my Brother Ken Kiraly, an IPTer from “way back”, pass this letter on to him. Thank you.

If I remember correctly, today is the 33rd anniversary of the day that I started at IPT. It is not a remarkable occasion; simply, as most anniversaries are, an opportunity for reflection.

I am not the person who started on that day. He disappeared in 2008. Six years ago now.

I am a better person. And a more determined one; when something needs to be done, I do not stop. I am more capable as well. I am surprised at what is possible.

However, this is balanced by something that happens to all of us who survive long enough; age. I did not expect to grow old.

It is odd to stand at the bottom of stairs and look up, knowing that it will be difficult to walk to the top. Or, to be sitting down and know that I cannot stand up readily. Or to need to nap as often as I do. The physical pain, too, is disconcerting. Is pain truly necessary?

But I have regained part of myself that was taken from me long ago. I can write again. And the person that I am now is able to see farther.

This weekend, I am attempting to see things. It is the IPT anniversary, Mother's Day, and my Father's Birthday is somewhere around this date as well.

I don't feel sentimental, exactly, regarding IPT. The firm lacked the focus that it needed; Steve Carr, I mean no offense. More importantly, I was a fool there. As I was in so many contexts for so many years. I worked triple-digit hours some weeks, often 365 days a year excluding trips, as though this was likely to be remembered or to produce respect.

But the chaos that was the atmosphere of the firm included fun moments, worthwhile projects, and interesting people. I started to write about the firm last year and I expect to continue.

Regards, Robert (the Old Coder)

140423. This is a copy of the article that Intel Magazin ran about me in April 2014. The language is German and the character set is UTF-8. To display the article correctly, you'll need a browser that supports UTF-8.

My thanks to Marek Hoffmann, who was kind and helpful throughout the interview process.

Intel Magazin – Über das Scheitern im Silicon Valley

geschrieben von Marek Hoffmann

Wer sich als Entwickler im Silicon Valley mehr als drei Jahrzehnte über Wasser halten kann, hat es geschafft. Sollte man zumindest meinen. Dass – und warum – es auch anders kommen kann, erzählt uns ein Kenner der Branche im Interview.

Für Viele steht das Silicon Valley als Synonym für IT, High-Tech und Erfolg. Zahlreiche Technologieunternehmen, darunter auch Intel, haben dort ihre Hauptniederlassung. Und erst kürzlich hat es das berühmte Tal sogar zu einer nach ihm benannten TV-Show gebracht, in der sechs Softwareentwickler versuchen, im Valley groß rauszukommen. Doch damit das im echten Leben an diesem Ort gelingt, muss man nicht nur ein Spezialist sein – sondern zunehmend auch jung und gut vernetzt.

Würden Sie sich unseren Lesern bitte vorstellen.

Ich heiße Robert Kiraly, bin 55 Jahre alt und stamme aus der Bay Area in San Francisco, USA. Mit etwa fünfzehn Jahren habe ich mit dem Programmieren begonnen. Später besuchte ich fünf Jahre lang die University of California, Berkeley, wo ich ein Diplom in Mathematik und Informatik erlangte. Allerdings würde ich mich eher als Allrounder im Bereich Informatik bezeichnen, denn als Informatiker, Softwareentwickler oder Programmierer.

Was machen Sie aktuell beruflich?

1981 zog ich ins Silicon Valley, wo ich knapp 32 Jahre lebte und arbeitete, bevor ich erst meinen Job und Weihnachten 2013 dann auch meine Unterkunft verlor und von dort wieder wegzog. Seitdem bin ich arbeitssuchend. Ich habe zwar zwischenzeitlich jede Jobmöglichkeit genutzt, um mich irgendwie über Wasser zu halten, bin aber bislang ohne feste Anstellung in meinem ursprünglichen Tätigkeitsfeld.

Vor kurzem hat der „Business Insider“ (BI) auf seiner Website einen Artikel über Sie veröffentlicht. Worum ging es darin?

Ich hatte zunächst auf der Plattform „Hacker News“ einen Beitrag kommentiert, in dem die Frage über das berufliche Schicksal älterer Entwickler wie mir aufgeworfen wurde. Mein Kommentar wurde aber kaum wahrgenommen und so beschloss ich auf Anraten eines Freundes, einen Blogartikel zu verfassen, in dem ich einige persönliche Ratschläge aufgelistet habe. Besagter Freund veröffentlichte ein eigenes Posting auf „Hacker News“ und verlinkte auf meinen Blogartikel. Das war ein Erfolg. Wir bekamen viel Resonanz und Feedback, der Post blieb für knapp neun Stunden auf der Hauptseite und erhielt über 300 Kommentare, mein Artikel hatte 32.000 Unique Visitors innerhalb von 24 Stunden. Darauf wurde der BI aufmerksam und man beschloss dort, einen eigenen Artikel zu verfassen und mich als Aufhänger dafür zu verwenden.

Sie haben mit Ihrem Artikel also offenbar einen Nerv getroffen. Welche Ratschläge haben Sie denn gegeben?   

Die vier Wichtigsten sind: 1. Falle niemals die Karriereleiter hinunter, 2. Spezialisiere dich, 3. Bau dir ein Netzwerk auf, 4. Streue deine Investments.

Die klingen auf den ersten Blick sehr allgemeingültig. Wie erklären Sie sich, dass Ihr Artikel speziell in der IT-Branche so hohe Wellen schlug? 

Es spielen mehrere Faktoren eine Rolle. Der BI hat seinen Fokus auf Altersdiskriminierung gelegt. Ein fast genauso schwerwiegender Faktor ist: Ich bin ein Generalist, ein Allrounder. Menschen wie ich sind sehr wertvoll, wenn sie in den richtigen Positionen oder Bereichen zum Einsatz kommen. Die Nachfrage auf dem IT-Arbeitsmarkt hat sich aber gewandelt und man sucht heute verstärkt nach Spezialisten. Ein Hauptgrund dafür liegt in dem Umstand, dass Projekte heutzutage sehr viel stärker als früher auf bestimmte Frameworks angewiesen sind.

Es reicht also nicht mehr aus, eine Programmiersprache zu kennen. Ein Entwickler muss auch die Frameworks kennen, die üblicherweise damit verbunden sind. Bis zu einem gewissen Punkt ist das natürlich sinnvoll. Aber die Nachfrage am Markt verlangt zu sehr nach Personen mit Erfahrung in bestimmten Frameworks und zu wenig nach jenen mit allgemeinen Erfahrungen: solchen, die ein Projekt benötigt, um erfolgreich sein zu können.

Robert Kiraly (55) heute: „Ich glaube, dass Altersdiskriminierung in der Einstellungspraxis mittelgroßer und großer Unternehmen vermutlich noch zunehmen wird.”

Sie erwähnen, dass der BI Altersdiskriminierung in den Mittelpunkt seines Berichts rückte. Glauben Sie, es gibt einen „Jugendwahn” in der Branche?

Ich bin mir nicht sicher, ob „Jugendwahn” das richtige Wort ist und ob es auf alle Bereiche der Branche zutrifft. Im Bewerbungsprozess kommt Altersdiskriminierung vor, gar keine Frage. Ich weiß aus meinem Umfeld, dass es ein großes Thema ist. Hinzu kommt, was auch im BI korrekt wiedergegeben wird: Viele Führungskräfte, ob sie nun direkt in den Bewerbungsprozess involviert sind oder nicht, mögen die Vorstellung nicht, in ihrem Team Leute zu haben, die alt genug sein könnten, um ihre Eltern zu sein. Allerdings habe ich auch Gegenbeispiele kennengelernt. So wurde ich in einigen Fällen, in denen ich von jüngeren Personen befragt wurde, durchaus fair behandelt. Und ein Abteilungsleiter, den ich in den letzten Jahren hatte, war jung genug, um mein Sohn sein zu können. Aber das war zwischen uns nie ein Problem.

Ich glaube, dass Altersdiskriminierung in der Einstellungspraxis mittelgroßer und großer Unternehmen vermutlich noch zunehmen wird. Es ist ein praktischer Filter in einem Prozess, der sehr stark auf dem Ausfiltern basiert. In vielen Unternehmen ist der Prozess so gestaltet, dass Bewerber so schnell wie möglich ausgesiebt werden sollen, ohne echte Absicht, sie auf ihre Eignung für eine Stelle zu prüfen.

Es geht darum, die Bewerberliste auf eine Länge zu stutzen, mit der sich bequem arbeiten lässt. Die Wahrscheinlichkeit wächst, dass in den nächsten zehn Jahren immer mehr Menschen in der Branche ohne erkennbaren Grund vor verschlossenen Türen stehen werden. Insbesondere jene, die sich jetzt in ihren Dreißigern befinden. Man wird sie nett behandeln, vermutlich netter als jüngere Bewerber, aber sie werden nie eine Antwort beziehungsweise Zusage erhalten. Es wird schwierig sein, das zu beweisen, aber ihr Alter wird der ausschlaggebende Punkt sein. Bei kleinen Unternehmen könnte das anders aussehen, weil es bei ihnen auf die Unternehmenskultur ankommen wird. Die einen werden keine Probleme mit älteren Entwicklern haben, die anderen schon.

Spielt das Alter im technischen Bereich also eine größere Rolle?

Altersdiskriminierung findet in vielen Berufen statt. Aber möglicherweise beginnt sie in der technischen Branche noch früher. Mir sind dazu unterschiedliche Auffassungen bekannt. Das gilt auch für die Sensibilisierung für das Thema und wie unterschiedlich es wahrgenommen wird.

Aber es existieren Faktoren, die vermutlich nur für die Tech-Branche gelten. Zum Beispiel ist es eine verbreitete Überzeugung, dass ältere Entwickler mehr kosten als junge. Das liegt daran, dass von Entwicklern nicht selten erwartet wird, dass sie 60 bis 90 Stunden pro Woche arbeiten – ohne Zuschlag. Während die Jüngeren das mit sich machen lassen, haben die Älteren oft Familien und sind dazu nicht mehr bereit.

Lassen Sie uns zu den vier von Ihnen aufgeführten Faktoren zurückkommen: In welchem davon sehen Sie selbst Ihre größte Verfehlung, die zu Ihrer derzeitigen Situation geführt hat? 

Ich habe es versäumt, Beziehungen aufzubauen. Das dürfte der größte Fehler von allen gewesen sein, wobei es keine bewusste Entscheidung war. Ich bin ein hochfunktionaler Autist. Ich habe Versuche unternommen, anderen zu helfen – sowohl auf beruflicher als auch privater Ebene. Allerdings ist es mir bis vor wenigen Jahren schwer gefallen, eine Verbindung oder ein Vertrauensverhältnis zu anderen Menschen aufzubauen. Hinzu kommt, dass mir nie in den Sinn kam, die Kommunikation mit ihnen aufrechtzuerhalten.

Der zweite Fehler war, dass ich mir zwar einige spezielle Fähigkeiten aneignete, dies aber auf einer Ad-Hoc-Grundlage geschah. Ich habe mir keine oder nicht ausreichend Mühe gegeben zu verstehen, wie der Markt sich veränderte und wie ich mich mit ihm weiterentwickeln könnte. Der dritte Fehler war ein Finanzieller: Ich habe meine Kapitalanlagen nicht breit genug gestreut. Viertens war ich naiv. Ich habe Menschen vertraut und wurde enttäuscht. Man sollte hilfsbereit sein, aber nicht erwarten, dass andere es auch sind oder sich revanchieren.

Und der fünfte Fehler war, dass ich für die Eventualität des Verlustes meines Arbeitsplatzes nicht vorgesorgt habe. In den späten 1990er-Jahren landete ich bei einem Dotcom-Unternehmen. Als es ein oder zwei Jahre später in finanzielle Schieflage geriet, hätte ich mich sofort neu orientieren sollen. Stattdessen steckte ich all meine Energie in das Unternehmen. Knapp zehn Jahre später machte ich den gleichen Fehler erneut. Man sollte seinen Job und die Verantwortung ernst nehmen, dabei aber seine eigenen Interessen nicht aus den Augen verlieren.

Robert Kiraly als Teenager: „Mit etwa fünfzehn Jahren habe ich mit dem Programmieren begonnen.”

Fehlt noch der Faktor „Spezialisiere dich!“. Warum ist der so wichtig?

Die knappe Antwort lautet: Weil das Kosten-Nutzen-Verhältnis gut ist. Entwickler sollten sich breit genug aufstellen, um nicht Gefahr zu laufen, irgendwann obsolet zu werden. Es scheint mir aber, dass die meisten Programmierer es als lohnend erachten, ihre Expertise von Anfang an eher in einzelnen Bereichen aufzubauen, die sich wachsender Popularität erfreuen: Interface Design, Web Apps, Native Apps und insbesondere Frameworks wie Flask und Rails. Wenn jemand sich die Mühe macht, sich als Generalist schrittweise und neben der Arbeit zu spezialisieren, sollten die Auswirkungen auf die aktuellen Projekte nicht allzu groß sein. Doch eines Tages können diese zusätzlich erworbenen Fähigkeiten einen Unterschied ausmachen.

Sie deuten an, dass Ihnen Ihre jetzige Situation erspart geblieben wäre, wenn Sie sich ein großes persönliches Personen-Netzwerk aufgebaut hätten. Inwiefern wäre das hilfreich gewesen?

Wir sind soziale Wesen. Mitglied einer Gruppe zu sein, ist wichtig für uns. Wenn eine Person einen Kollegen einer anderen Person vorstellt und ihn empfiehlt, dann wird damit etwas Wichtiges übertragen. So eine Vorstellung ist wichtig, sie ist aber nur der Anfang. Die vorgestellte Person beginnt nun nicht mehr ganz von vorne, bei null. Sie ist dann zwar noch keine „bekannte Größe“, aber sie wird anders wahrgenommen. Es wäre für mich vermutlich besser gelaufen, wenn ich nicht bei null hätte anfangen müssen. Mein Status als Allrounder war Teil des Problems. Wie kann ein Generalist unter Beweis stellen, dass er die perfekte Wahl für eine Stelle oder ein Projekt ist? Es ist möglich, aber eine persönliche Vorstellung durch Dritte ist da sehr hilfreich.

Hinzu kommt, dass viele freie Stellen gar nicht öffentlich ausgeschrieben werden. Tech-Jobs werden oftmals direkt an Leute mit Verbindungen weitergegeben. Ein Freund von mir hat das sehr schön formuliert: „Ich frage Freunde zuerst. Und wenn ich alle durch habe, versuche ich mein Glück mit Fremden.“ Ich habe nie auf diese Karte gesetzt, wenngleich ich auch manche Anstellung über Verbindungen bekommen habe. Ich habe dabei aber immer gedacht, dass Leute, denen ich geholfen habe, mir wohl gesonnen seien und zum richtigen Zeitpunkt und an entsprechender Stelle ein gutes Wort für mich einlegen würden. Es war eine schmerzliche Erfahrung zu sehen, dass das nur auf wenige zutraf.

Wie sehen Ihre Pläne für die Zukunft aus?

Der Artikel im BI hat einiges an Interesse geweckt. Allerdings habe ich mehr Reaktionen auf den ursprünglichen Beitrag in den „Hacker News“ und auf Übersetzungen erhalten, die in China veröffentlicht wurden. Ich erhielt Angebote von Leuten, sich meinen Lebenslauf anzuschauen und Vorschläge zu machen beziehungsweise Empfehlungen auszusprechen. Das ist ein Anfang.

Mein primäres Ziel für die Zukunft ist, etwas zu finden, das 100-prozentig zu mir passt. Völlig egal, ob an meinem aktuellen Ort, einem anderen Staat oder einem anderen Land. Ich möchte dorthin gehen, wo ich gebraucht werde. An einen Ort, wo ich willkommen bin und vielleicht ein Zuhause finde. Falls jemand neugierig auf mich ist, möchte ich kurz meine Expertise skizzieren.

Während der letzten 35 Jahre habe ich erfolgreich an unzähligen Projekten in den verschiedensten Bereichen gearbeitet. Meine Aufgaben umfassten dabei unter anderem folgende Verantwortungsbereiche: Compiler und Assembler, Debugger, Code-Analyse, Netzwerk-Server und -Clients, Datenbank-Layers, BIOS, Rekrutierung, Kundensupport, Hausverwaltungssoftware, Multimedia-Transkodierung, Firefox-Extensions, technische Dokumentationen, Aktienanalyse-Tools, Photoshop EKG Plug-in, Webentwicklung, Entwicklung in verschiedenen Programmiersprachen sowie Anfertigung von Dokumentationen. Darüber hinaus habe ich in den vergangenen 20 Jahren viel Arbeit in die Entwicklung einer eigenen Linux-Distribution investiert. Aktuell verwalte ich darin etwa 1.800 FOSS-Packages, die ich alle selbst ausgesucht, gepatcht und konfiguriert habe.

Wer mehr über mich erfahren möchte, kann also gerne mit mir Kontakt aufnehmen. Ich bin auf LinkedIn, bei Twitter und meinen beiden Websites zu finden.

Wir bedanken uns für das Interview und wünschen Ihnen für Ihre private und berufliche Zukunft alles Gute!

Der Autor

Marek Hoffmann
Sammelt Flugmeilen beim Fallschirmspringen, liebt alte Comics und schreibt gelegentlich noch mit der Hand. Sorgt hier mit seinem Redaktionsteam für den Output. Home Base ist Hemd & Hoodie, solo ist er auch auf Facebook, Twitter oder Xing zu finden.

This post is old but will remain on the front page for the time being.

140321. Just a brief note to somebody who found the personal site by way of the Older Developers post:

I happen to have both a technical site and a personal site. Many people have personal sites. They're entitled to this. So am I.

Some personal sites are about cats, recipes, and learning to be creative. Some are about advocacy, fighting back against abuse, and legal issues. My personal site is about all of the above.

I'm pleased at the fact that the personal site has helped me to “get in touch” with my feelings, to share my feelings with others who are supportive, to improve my writing skills, and to encourage others, especially autistic people and abuse victims, to speak out.

Some of the issues discussed on the personal site are unusual. When people point this out, my reaction is, “So what? This is what happened.”

In particular, responsibility for the issues involved belongs largely to family members who have repeatedly tried to take down the site.

The fight to keep the site up has cost me my life savings, my health, and my future. To some extent, my past as well.

If it makes somebody uncomfortable to learn that this sort of thing happens, nobody is going to force them to read about it.

I'm going to focus on the people who not only accept the personal site but offer me encouragement. God bless them.

This post is old but will remain on the front page for the time being.

140320. Our Hacker News post about aging developers got +333 points, was on the front page for most of the time for 9 hours, and resulted in 32,000 unique visitors over 24 hours.

This post discusses the procedure that we used.

This is a copy of a letter to Storm Petrel, a Scottish Bird.

The context is a stunt that my startupers helped me with the other day. We directed 32,000 unique visitors to one of my sites in 24 hours.

As a note to attorneys who may receive copies of this letter, your attention is directed to the last section of the letter. It is titled, appropriately enough, “Remarks for Attorneys”.

Dear Scottish Bird,

INTRODUCTION

The Hacker News stunt produced 32,000 unique visitors to Christ Follower in 24 hours. Same population as the city of Walnut Creek when my family moved there decades ago.

We were on the front page, most of the time, for about 9 hours. #1 for a respectable period. The score for the HN post that linked to me is presently +333 points and 368 comments.

I'll explain how we did it. And throw in some remarks about what the results mean to me.

First, the attached drawing is a picture of Ded Sirijus, who played a lead role in the stunt. It's a self-portrait that he did a while back. Note: Ded Sirijus is a game designer and artist in Croatia. The attached screenshot is a scene from a game that he's working on.

HOW WE DID IT

You said, “Actually, it was only partially the Startupers. They likely provided the bootstrap to get noticed a bit, but once noticed it was your article and the accumulating comments that drove it. The topic of “older programmers” is getting a lot of traction on tech discussion sites recently.”

After the dust settled, Ded Sirijus and I analyzed what had happened. I included your previous input. We decided that that we'd succeeded in the stunt due to seven factors:

1. Zeitgeist. The topic was floating around. Not as a fad or meme. This wasn't like Doge. Though a Doge essay on the subject would be concise:

“So old. Very discarded. Much thought.”

In fact, my article was a response to somebody else's HN post on the subject. Tactician spotted the older HN post. He realized immediately that it provided the perfect hook for me to use for an article of my own: What Happens to Older Developers?

Update: People have pointed out that HN Zeitgeist is more relevant than Web Zeitgeist in general.

2. Content. My article included both anecdotes (backwards looking) and advice (forwards looking). It was carefully composed. The points made were neither trite (too obvious) nor too off-the-wall. Instead, they were somewhere in the middle; i.e., typical readers would feel that they were worth discussing.

3. Starting Time. Ded Sirijus did the initial Hacker News post at 10:00am UTC as opposed to the 7:00am UTC time that some people recommend. His reasoning was as follows:

10:00am UTC (5:00am Eastern Time) is better than 7:00am UTC for an HN post because it's not too late to go viral in Europe but, if the post does go viral in Europe, it will last long enough to go viral in the United States as U.S. people wake up and start their day.

4. Upvote Distribution. This part was tricky. The heart of the matter is that Hacker News, like Google, discourages cheating and rewards honest behavior. So we didn't misuse upvotes. We followed four rules:

(a) Don't overuse upvotes. I don't recall how many we arranged, but it wasn't a large number.

(b) Don't try to get people to upvote at a particular time. In fact, some of our upvotes were arranged randomly in real time.

(c) Don't rush upvotes. I don't think that we averaged more than one or two upvotes per minute.

(d) Don't ask people without established HN accounts to upvote. If people create new accounts to upvote, this is probably a red flag for the site.

These rules led to a distribution of upvotes along the temporal axis that Hacker News interpreted as natural behavior.

Note: From our point of view, it *was* natural behavior. We asked friends to review the post and to upvote if they felt that the post deserved it. At any rate, Hacker News decided that we were proceeding honestly.

If I'm informed correctly, we made it onto the front page with only about 15 upvotes. Subsequently, the Comments step, discussed below, took the post to #1, where it stayed for quite a while.

When the post eventually fell off of the front page, we used the last of our stock of upvotes to bump it back onto the front page twice. This squeezed more juice out of the orange.

5. Comments. I responded to as many as the early comments at Hacker News as possible. I tried to be as respectful. Active engagement at the comments level made a difference.

A friend named Rubidiun has informed me that he participated in this part; i.e., responding to comments. Other friends may have done so as well.

Update: HN is changing the way that comments are handled. This may affect future upvote projects.

6. Host Side. I'd set up a decent host side. The content was static as opposed to dynamic. Static is faster and more reliable than dynamic. The httpd server was "nginx", which is good under load. I didn't use external cache services. They tend to be fragile and unreliable.

Additionally, the server host was experienced and accustomed to spikes in traffic. Note: I know him personally and trust his judgment. He's not ruffled if a post happens to go viral. His remarks are as follows:

“Once it hits 1,500 requests per second, we can discuss "load". I'm hard to impress. [Though] a proper slashdotting, back in the day, punched the server to a standstill at [only] 200 requests per second.”

I also had alternate servers standing by.

The alternate servers were coincidental. Family members have expressed interest in taking down my weblog. In fact, they've tried to do so through legal actions and, I believe, DDOS. I actually received email from the DDOS person. So I need to be nimble when it comes to network setup. But nimble is a good idea in general.

WHAT IT MEANS TO ME

I had a “choice”. I could send 32,000 people to my professional site. A site that's aging, like me, and focused on code. Or I could send them to my personal site. The one that is starting to reflect who I am. The complete “me” that includes, but transcends, code. The site that says what needs to be said regarding things that have happened.

I chose the second option. As I'd guessed, to the vast majority of people, it didn't matter. One person told me that I should hide that part of my web presence. Some of the others that I talked to were supportive. Here's what one of the latter people said to me late last night:

“you say “tmi”, i say “courageous” ;-)”

I'm satisfied with the “choice” that I made. I've picked up a few new channel members; they seem nice. People have sent me letters discussing possible options. My site traffic will remain elevated for a bit.

And things are out in the open. It's the red pill once and for all as opposed to the blue one. For everybody involved in what happened.

This part felt right. It was the deciding factor.

REMARKS FOR ATTORNEYS

Attorneys who receive copies of this letter are advised to note the “out in the open” part. The attorneys who may be able to help. The attorneys who may seek to harm.

I've been called wise again recently. And kind. People have assigned other qualities to me as well. Ones that are not as positive. It is possible that all of this is true.

I help people when it is practical. I don't take sh*t any more. The boy who did take sh*t is gone. Bedivere, who used to work for my Brother Ken Kiraly's company, Amazon, describes me as follows:

OldCoder, lays on the bricks, but not too quick
Takes his time, before he does, checks for a sign
All is good, all is well
Takes the poor, helps those that fell

Bedivere has assessed me over two years. It is suggested that others assess me as well. He says that I “check for a sign”. I suppose that I do.

To the attorneys who were involved in past actions, there are matters that need to be addressed. I'm going to expect “signs”. If you feel that what happened is likely to “go away”, it is unlikely.

My “legitimate” and “reasonable” sword is the truth.

Regards, Robert (the Old Coder)