I’m about to hit 65, having spent 36 years as an airline pilot. I’m not a genius, and I’ve never been scouted by NASA or JPL. I’m just a regular guy who’s good at staying grounded. At 64, I had to learn to fly the incredibly advanced Airbus A350. For the last 25 years, I’d been flying the simpler Boeing 767, and I’d never touched an Airbus, which is drastically different from a Boeing. I was the oldest person to try Delta’s A350 training program. I was told that even younger pilots were struggling, and that my age might make success impossible. The plane is incredibly complex. The training manual is 7,000 pages long, with tons of videos, six weeks of simulators, and tough exams. “It can’t be done, old guy,” they said.
BULLSHIT! I breezed through the training. It wasn’t any harder than when I trained on the MD-11 at 34, even though the A350 was a tougher program. My ability to learn hadn’t declined in 30 years, and I aced the challenging program without issue. If I can still easily learn complex things in my mid-60s, anyone can.
To answer the question: The age at which it gets harder to learn varies. Some people are sharp into their 90s. Don’t make assumptions. Don’t rule yourself out at any age. Don’t underestimate older people, because many are just as sharp, or even sharper, than you. Treat everyone well, especially older people, because you’ll be one of them before you know it, and you’ll appreciate being treated with respect.