In early January a user on Hacker News started a thread that many of you may be able to relate to, even if you're not in the age group mentioned. The user says in the Ask HN post, "
I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder."
My immediate thought was that this is normal and it definitely must be something to do with age. But the top comment has a fairly optimistic response:
"I don't know you personally but I doubt cognitive decline has anything to do with this. As we age, we usually end up with more and more life responsibilities, beyond just the work we are doing. All of that is input to the brain and requires energy in response."
The comment goes on:
"I often feel as you do, but then I have periods where I am as light and agile in my productivity as 20 years ago, maybe even more so, and usually it is my life circumstances that are the culprit."
Another user mentions that they have gone through something similar, offering suggestions including the following:
"Generally I was able to reverse it by working on something which really stimulated me - even hacking away on some goofy personal project after hours - and that kind of bootstrapped me back into a place where I could easily attain flow for "harder" tasks."
If this is something you've noticed after years of programming or working in a challenging role, you may benefit from checking out that whole discussion. And at the very least, it's nice to know we're not alone in this sort of thing!
