You have no idea how far this really, really goes.  Hoping not to be homeless, I have to say.

Careers that rely primarily on fluid intelligence tend to peak early, while those that use more crystallized intelligence peak later. For example, Dean Keith Simonton has found that poets—highly fluid in their creativity—tend to have produced half their lifetime creative output by age 40 or so. Historians—who rely on a crystallized stock of knowledge—don’t reach this milestone until about 60.

Here’s a practical lesson we can extract from all this: No matter what mix of intelligence your field requires, you can always endeavor to weight your career away from innovation and toward the strengths that persist, or even increase, later in life.

This article makes so much sense.  Some things you have a vague sense of but to have it spelled out.  Incredible.  Fortunately, in the software development world, leveraging your knowledge to actually stop programming and lead younger developers is a normal career step.  I didn't go that route but I work as a consultant for an Electronic Data Integration software company, I work out of my home, and I use my 15 years experience with the tool and 35 years of SQL to do my job.  I know I will never be able to learn another language and have any real expertise with it.

I don't have a lot of hope when it comes to making to 50, so, whatever. But yes, my career wants only young people who are on-trend. You can't convince a company you are on trend past 40.

Wish my younger else would have had some foresight.

Auto-edited on 2020-08-02 to update URLs