[bradknowles]

So, I’m over 50 myself. And I do have a fair amount of experience in a variety of areas. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, and I do try to provide the value of my experience in helping others to avoid those same mistakes. I do also value economy and effectiveness of communication, even though I also realize that I can tend to be very verbose.

I try very, very hard not to be the grumpy old man. But I have seen some stuff, and it’s a hard balancing act to maintain.

If I have been acting as the grumpy old man, then I would actually really appreciate someone telling me that, because that is not who I want to be. And I do want to connect with younger engineers and developers.

I am actively interested in being a mentor to younger co-workers, and I find that they help me to become a better version of myself, through their questions and their perspective. If nothing else, I have found that the only way to truly and deeply learn some subject is to try to teach it to someone else.

So, I would encourage you to talk to the guy. Maybe he could become a mentor of yours and you could learn how to understand him better and communicate with him better, and he might appreciate that.

Or maybe not. But you won’t know unless you try to talk to him.