Jurassic Cyberpark

[battershall-ramo]

As a 40-something husband and father, I'm increasingly finding that many of my jobs on and off Upwork involve working with 20- or 30-something techies talking about stuff I don't really get anymore and in language I don't understand. Is there a built-in obsolescence for online workers in a field dominated by the young, and do other people in my age group or older often feel that it's difficult to stay down with the kids online when your idea of what's cool ended around 1996?

[allergywriter]

So as someone who is closer to 60 than 50, I find that the young folks are happy to explain things to me because I explain other things to them.

It's kind of like a give and take thing. You explain to me about cryptocurrency (back when it was just getting attention) and I'll explain to you the difference between which and that or give you ideas on how to calm that colicky baby.

I try to learn something new every day - digital or not.

[gilbert-phyllis]

🤣

1996 is when some of us first experienced what you're describing.

[m_terrazas]

---

Phyllis G wrote:

🤣

1996 is when some of us first experienced what you're describing.

---

👵

[colettelewis]

I have a 12-year old doctor. When I visit her I know  I have oustayed my welcome on the planet!

[ OT: Why have the emojis shrunk - or is it just my ancient eyes?]

[allergywriter]

Phyliss - you made me laugh so hard I almost dropped my deck of punch cards!

[kinector]

Ramon, I thought of this from the beginning and particularly chose to work with 20 something startup founders. Not only is that combination of enthusiasm and energy together with experience and foresight great for the company, but that kind of collaboration and work mode keep me young. Some clients are literally half my age so I keep learning new things all the time. 😁

Also, daily coconuts help in staying forever young. 🤣:desert_island:🤪

[a_lipsey]

I'm thoroughly disappointed with this thread. The title was so enticing, I thought I was going to be reading a story about ancient freelancers eating clients or something...clickbait. 😞 

Now I feel like I need to post a job to hire a freelancer to write this story. 

[prestonhunter]

I wrote this yesterday. It is sort of related:

Fact Check: Did Winston Churchill really say:
“History is written by the velociraptors.”

In the decades since Churchill’s famous speech before the British House of Commons (January 23, 1948), this has become one of the most famous quotes attributed to the famed leader. But he never actually said this.

Churchill was attempting to raise support for England to join the rest of Europe in what would become known as the Velociraptor War. Long thought extinct, velociraptors had invaded Europe from their underground kingdom. Many in England regarded this as a purely Continental conflict, but Churchill warned that the velociraptors would not be content to confine their expansionism to the other side of the Channel.

Churchill actually said: “If we do not join the effort now, history will be written by the velociraptors.”

[mwiggenhorn]

I'm over 70 - There, I said it! - and my clients ask me for advice.  Lord help us all if that's how the legal field is headed.

[roberty1y]

Those who don't learn from history are condemned to be eaten by velociraptors.

[roberty1y]

---

Amanda L wrote:

 The title was so enticing, I thought I was going to be reading a story about ancient freelancers eating clients or something...clickbait. 😞 

---

 I once ate a client who gave me a bad review. He tasted like chicken.

[2a05aa63 · Accepted solution]

Techology is evolving so rapidly, I'm 29 and have to update my tech stack every 1-2 years.

[martina_plaschka]

---

Viacheslav K wrote:

Techology is evolving so rapidly, I'm 29 and have to update my tech stack every 1-2 years.

---

Hey, at least you know what a tech stack is. I can only guess. 

[allergywriter]

Martina, take your reel to reel tape deck, place it on top of your IBM 5520. Next to this, place the decollator you use to take those multiple copy reports apart and then balance the floppy disk drive reader (you know when floppy's were 8 1/2  x 11 and really floppy) on top and you'll have a tech stack.

Or in modern times, take your laptop and place your tablet and cell phone on top

Everytime I hear the term tech stack, this is what I see :o)

[battershall-ramo]

What's a tech stack, is it like a CD stack? 

[allergywriter]

no Ramon, it's when your tech stacks on top of each other like this

[battershall-ramo]

And what's this cloud anyway? Is storing all our information on there responsible for all this bad weather we've been having? 

[colettelewis]

---

Ramon B wrote:

And what's this cloud anyway? Is storing all our information on there responsible for all this bad weather we've been having? 

---

______________________

It's where some people go when they die. They get a pair of wings if they're lucky, otherwise they have to sit on tech stacks until they are given permission to move on to higher things. 

[allergywriter]

Ramon: For a time, my son "designed clouds". His official job title was Cloud Infrastructure Architect and I got a chuckle by telling people my son was CIA. He still does something or another with clouds, but I don't think it has to do with the weather.

I got him a tee shirt that says "There is No Cloud - It's Just Someone Else's Computer"

[gilbert-phyllis]

There's a contest in here somewhere... photograph your tech stack, must only include devices that still work and that you have plugged in and used in the past five years. Mine would include an audio cassette deck, Windows XP laptop, AM/FM alarm clock radio, and the portable, manual typewriter that saw me through college.

[a_lipsey]

---

Phyllis G wrote:

There's a contest in here somewhere... photograph your tech stack, must only include devices that still work and that you have plugged in and used in the past five years. Mine would include an audio cassette deck, Windows XP laptop, AM/FM alarm clock radio, and the portable, manual typewriter that saw me through college.

---

I still have a VCR and the tapes. 

I do still have a netbook with XP on it too. 

[gilbert-phyllis]

---

Amanda L wrote:

---

Phyllis G wrote:

There's a contest in here somewhere... photograph your tech stack, must only include devices that still work and that you have plugged in and used in the past five years. Mine would include an audio cassette deck, Windows XP laptop, AM/FM alarm clock radio, and the portable, manual typewriter that saw me through college.

---

I still have a VCR and the tapes. 

I do still have a netbook with XP on it too. 

---

I nearly forgot the 200 audio cassettes of music that I'm waiting for the elves to show up and digitize. 

[jr-translation]

---

Phyllis G wrote:

---

Amanda L wrote:

---

Phyllis G wrote:

There's a contest in here somewhere... photograph your tech stack, must only include devices that still work and that you have plugged in and used in the past five years. Mine would include an audio cassette deck, Windows XP laptop, AM/FM alarm clock radio, and the portable, manual typewriter that saw me through college.

---

I still have a VCR and the tapes. 

I do still have a netbook with XP on it too. 

---

I nearly forgot the 200 audio cassettes of music that I'm waiting for the elves to show up and digitize. 

---

First item I bought after moving was a cassette player.

We had a discussion over dinner the other day when we had Tortiglioni. My kid was irritated and and asked for the curly ones. DH did not understand so I stepped in with "phone noodles". Again irritation because what does a phone have to do with noodles?

Remember the old days when phones still had cords?

[roberty1y]

---

Amanda L wrote:

---

---

I still have a VCR and the tapes. 

---

Wow. You're only one degree of separation from the gramophone with the trumpet-shaped speaker and the dog listening to his master's voice.

[martina_plaschka]

---

Cheryl K wrote:

Martina, take your reel to reel tape deck, place it on top of your IBM 5520. Next to this, place the decollator you use to take those multiple copy reports apart and then balance the floppy disk drive reader (you know when floppy's were 8 1/2  x 11 and really floppy) on top and you'll have a tech stack.

Or in modern times, take your laptop and place your tablet and cell phone on top

Everytime I hear the term tech stack, this is what I see :o)

---

Well I don't know most of the fancy words you used, but this is what I did: I placed my 2 laptops on top of each other (guess that is what the "top" in laptop stands for), then my IPad, and then my cell phone. Put a small flower pot on top of that for good measure and decorative value. It looks really nice. I don't know how long I have to wait now for an update. Plus I can't work. I am starting to understand that updating your tech stack really is a pain, though. 

[allergywriter]

Your tech stack has the bonus of being decorative.  That should make you more desirable to clients!

[kinector]

---

Martina P wrote:

---

---

Well I don't know most of the fancy words you used, but this is what I did: I placed my 2 laptops on top of each other (guess that is what the "top" in laptop stands for), then my IPad, and then my cell phone. Put a small flower pot on top of that for good measure and decorative value. It looks really nice. I don't know how long I have to wait now for an update. Plus I can't work. I am starting to understand that updating your tech stack really is a pain, though. 

---

I admire your creativity, Martina, that totally works!

BTW, just guess what "tech stack" I have. Hint: It's the opposite of "hi-tech" ... 😉

Yep, you guessed right!!! 😇:desert_island:️😎

[martina_plaschka]

---

Mikko R wrote:

---

Martina P wrote:

---

---

Well I don't know most of the fancy words you used, but this is what I did: I placed my 2 laptops on top of each other (guess that is what the "top" in laptop stands for), then my IPad, and then my cell phone. Put a small flower pot on top of that for good measure and decorative value. It looks really nice. I don't know how long I have to wait now for an update. Plus I can't work. I am starting to understand that updating your tech stack really is a pain, though. 

---

I admire your creativity, Martina, that totally works!

BTW, just guess what "tech stack" I have. Hint: It's the opposite of "hi-tech" ... 😉

Yep, you guessed right!!! 😇:desert_island:️😎

---

Now I have a picture in my mind of you swiftly climbing up and down palmtrees fetching coconuts, and I can't get rid of it. 

[kinector]

---

Martina P wrote:

Now I have a picture in my mind of you swiftly climbing up and down palmtrees fetching coconuts, and I can't get rid of it. 

---

Oh dear, what have I done!?!? 🤐

If it helps to change the image in your head, I do hire freelancers to do that climbing for me, sometimes. :palm_tree:

Some of them are monkeys. They are good and fast and most of them don't know how to count 20% commission. 😜

[martina_plaschka]

---

Mikko R wrote:

---

Martina P wrote:

Now I have a picture in my mind of you swiftly climbing up and down palmtrees fetching coconuts, and I can't get rid of it. 

---

Oh dear, what have I done!?!? 🤐

If it helps to change the image in your head, I do hire freelancers to do that climbing for me, sometimes. :palm_tree:

Some of them are monkeys. They are good and fast and most of them don't know how to count 20% commission. 😜

---

Not helping! Now I see a group on monkeys sitting together under a tree trying to figure out 20% with pebbles they found on the beach. Scratching their monkey heads. Making guttural sounds. 

[abbas_tauseef]

I'm 30 and my  almost 3 years old daughter knows how to use my cellphone better than me. 

The future generations are well-equipped with tech knowledge and critical thinking unlike us older geeks who had to parrot books and write memorized stuff on papers without any real understanding of the topic/s whatsoever (it's true at least for the place where I live).

However, we aren't obsolete, neither are our ideas.