Submission timeline
2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
First comments on top threads
HN comment orderI am quite surprised at the amount of negativity surrounding this piece. Yes, it's sort of clickbait-y. You don't need to feel like you're about to wither and die because you just turned 44. Yes, it's deeply anecdotal. Lots of older people are incredibly successful in their fields. That 65-year old engineer you know is great! But frankly, it doesn't matter who you are, or what you do: you will begin to get worse at it some day. And if…
I think this is a bs pseudo-science article. Instead of saying it’s an age decline maybe just say that it’s very rare to do the same thing progressively better for more than 20 years. Therefore instead of viewing life in progressive terms, view it in cyclical terms. At some point you have to start over at the bottom. For some reason people at age 50 develop a snobbery that prohibits this — they must keep on doing the same thing…
https://archive.ph/IV4VE
https://archive.today/JCqok
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
- Breakout years
- 2
- Total points
- 335
- Total comments
- 198
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
Every submission
| Date | Title as submitted | By | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-06-19 | Professional Decline Comes Sooner Than People ThinkFirst breakout | occamschainsaw | 114 | 39 |
| 2020-12-11 | Your Professional Decline Is Coming (Much) Sooner Than You Think | bookofjoe | 5 | 0 |
| 2021-03-29 | Work peak and professional decline (2019)Best thread · Latest 20+ point return | fortran77 | 198 | 155 |
| 2023-05-25 | Work Peak Is Earlier Than You Think (2019) | georgecmu | 4 | 2 |
| 2025-01-02 | Professional Decline Is Coming (Much) Sooner Than You Think (2019) | paulpauper | 1 | 0 |
| 2025-06-06 | Professional Decline (The Atlantic) | highfrequency | 6 | 1 |
| 2025-07-23 | Professional Decline Is Coming (Much) Sooner Than You Think | bookofjoe | 7 | 1 |