Seeing startups booming all around me, being lead by people that are younger than me, can be daunting. More than daunting, it can be downright terrifying. I know I’m not alone in this feeling that many on HackerNews express in their comments.

The success of newly acquired startups often gets expertly dissected by journalists that usually know little about technology and thus attribute the achievement to more superficial attributes like age, or at least, they try to capitalize on it, sensationalize it. The emphasis on “age” mattering in terms of technology and work success in the tech sector forced an interesting premise. One that insists on seeing age as a measure of ability. It’s a status multiplier, a “skill”, and a badge of its own.

What is startup success? (In terms of popular culture)

Startup success = Genius Index * working hours per week * ( 1 / age)

The Startups we idolize usually fit a neat little box. One where every employee works long hours “just to get the job done”, everyone employed is a college dropout and can’t rent a car yet. The unparalleled genius eventually turns into a buyout worth billions.

I feel like my simple equation reflects this rotten attitude and can be used to further illustrate how messed up we treat people by their age, and how we apply this as a metaphor for our own individual success.

The rotten attitude gives startups encouragement to weed out anyone over 40. And enforces this brutal competition, not against each other, but against ourselves. We measure success then not only by the impact of our work, but by our age.

It gives us this illusion that there is a certain time when our work needs to be done. Anything past that falls into our time past our prime.

But I would argue against that notion

From anecdotal experience with developers that go a decade or more further down the line of time, I can attest to their abilities, and how far above they are from what I do and am able to do. Just yesterday, I saw the passion rekindled in the entire team I work with, where they’ve expressed how much the environment at work makes them passionate about what they do and how much they learn.

What I find interesting is observing these geniuses at work. One of my co-workers switched, expertly, from being full-time PHP to working on Node and doing front-end. It took him much less time than it took me and his code has a much better structure to it. One that will probably make its way into my projects as we release a new version out.

Outside of that. I still argue against this notion. My own eagerness to learn has doubled and tripled over the past several years and will most likely keep going. It’s easier for me to learn so I don’t even recognize when I’ve done something monumental. Just last month I’ve learned how to setup and manage Redis, setup a Couchbase cluster, learned the basics of Meteor.io, .net, and loads of other technologies.

I think that those of us out there, lurking Hacker News, seeing these 20-somethings get featured on the front page should keep something else in mind.

Blog posts don’t tell the whole story

Maybe it’s just me but I’m still hung up on how Instagram succeeded. At the time of acquisition, both original founders were under 30. When Google got started, the founders were in their mid-20’s. Zuckerberg is still just a kid in his 20’s, years after his success was recognized.

Seeing these numbers throws me back into my little corner where “age is everything”. And if I don’t accomplish my “big break” in the next 5 years, I’ll just be a nothing for the rest of my life (working on older outdated systems, keeping legacy code still pumping).

But that is not so. Here’s why. The startups most in our faces are a few and when they are run by younger founders, it’s pointed out. I originally wanted to reveal this huge number of startup founders that were in their thirties but the truth is, most of them do not readily reveal their age. Because it’s not important, it doesn’t stand out. The achievements stand out.

So where is my prime?

I don’t believe there is such a thing as a “prime”. People learn and keep going. I think this “prime” is a delusion which pigeonholes grandeur to a specific period of time.

As developers, the only thing limit us is ourselves and a culture that’s been built up around young heroes which leave their mark on the world with old sages grumbling about the good old days.

Don’t let yourself get stuck in that. Do what you love, don’t worry about if your company will have enough of an impact before you hit 30!