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Ask HN: Developers aged 50, how have you gotten around age discrimination?

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Re: Ask HN: Developers aged 50, how have you gotten around age discrimination?

#41

Post by mhd »

simonsarris wrote: post #27
uptownfunk wrote: post #4

There is a technology called hair coloring, stack it with a hoodie and some well fitted slacks, roll up one of the ankle cuffs a bit. Talk like you've exited a startup and are just working for fun, or something to keep you interested, but not like you actually have to.

Agree 100%, it has blown me away my whole life how engineers downplay marketing and [product|personal] presentation in spite of the reams of data suggesting it has some of the best ROI possible of anything you can spend your time improving. Do you want to make more money, get more connections, have everyone like you more and treat you better? It's as simple as buying some nicer shirts, getting regular haircuts, and e…

In my experience, the opposite of the aforementioned 50-something hoodie wearer would be someone with a Oxford shirt and jacket, ie well-dressed, but not hip. And they might dress up similarly in their free time, when they're not with their co-workers. So the "Han Shot First" tee might be as much an unwanted disguise as the "business casual" dress code the startup bros avoid.

I'm not saying that one shouldn't adapt a bit, but dyed hair and "How do you do, fellow kids" clothes overshoot the goal by a good bit.

Re: Ask HN: Developers aged 50, how have you gotten around age discrimination?

#42

Post by billwear »

I'm 60, and going strong. Most important is bring not only depth and breadth of knowledge but also wisdom to the work. As a graybeard, you're expected to add value because of your years. For example, when my office was going nuts about Kubernetes, devops, etc., it got me a raise to compare this new tech to the original Unix philosophy and point out some lessons learned in Unix design that would help with our containers. Everybody reinvents everything, every 5 or 10 years; use your history to add value, and you have a unique selling point that can't be duplicated.

Re: Ask HN: Developers aged 50, how have you gotten around age discrimination?

#44

Post by effie »

neolefty wrote: post #22

I'm 47, but my kids are reminding me 50 is coming soon! I'm working as a web engineer — not a manager or even team lead — working remotely from the Midwest for a coastal company, and I'm pretty happy with it. All I can say is keep learning, be friendly, and delight in the energy of all you young people. I am not entirely sure why I have been hired, or even whether it was a good idea for my employer. So maybe stay hum…

Could you share some examples of the things you learned but then became irrelevant? I wonder if we could find some pattern to help people avoid learning modern stuff that will have the same fate.

Re: Ask HN: Developers aged 50, how have you gotten around age discrimination?

#46

Post by jedberg »

buserror wrote: post #32
WilliamLP wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm a frigging EXPERT in dozens of stuff that would make people smile now (those who are old enough ;-)) I'd love to read your list. :)

I'll just tell you now I've got a T-shirt with "Copland Driver Kitchen" :-)

That brings back memories...

Re: Ask HN: Developers aged 50, how have you gotten around age discrimination?

#47

Post by buserror »

Chopsah2 wrote: post #38
buserror wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll just tell you now I've got a T-shirt with "Copland Driver Kitchen" :-)

I've got an "OpenDoc Kamp Kodabunch" sweatshirt.

Phoew that's cool! I have to say Opendoc always smelled wrong to me, so I stayed clear -- But I did implement the 'whose' descriptors in Applescript once, and I still have the scars to prove it :-)

I wrote a lot of "Apple Telecom 3.0" that ran on most "powerbooks" back in 1995+ or so, you know, modems, faxes, voice mails and all these very high tech stuff :-)

Re: Ask HN: Developers aged 50, how have you gotten around age discrimination?

#48

Post by neolefty »

buserror wrote: post #20

I'm 49! I've been working since I'm 17 as a developer -- I think the KEY thing is to be valuable, and be able to change quickly BUT not as quickly as the snowflakes. Ignore the fad tech, get a good, serious, bulletproof base in actual computer science -- I mean, LOW LEVEL stuff--, that will help you learn ANYTHING computer related quickly, and continue surfing that wave with whatever tech you fancy might actually be…

This matches my experience too (47, been programming since childhood).

I think you'll see some survivorship bias in this thread — we may end up answering a different question:

"How can you tell who is likely to still be programming 20 years after they start their career?"

Re: Ask HN: Developers aged 50, how have you gotten around age discrimination?

#49

Post by ams6110 »

simonsarris wrote: post #27
uptownfunk wrote: post #4

There is a technology called hair coloring, stack it with a hoodie and some well fitted slacks, roll up one of the ankle cuffs a bit. Talk like you've exited a startup and are just working for fun, or something to keep you interested, but not like you actually have to.

Agree 100%, it has blown me away my whole life how engineers downplay marketing and [product|personal] presentation in spite of the reams of data suggesting it has some of the best ROI possible of anything you can spend your time improving. Do you want to make more money, get more connections, have everyone like you more and treat you better? It's as simple as buying some nicer shirts, getting regular haircuts, and e…

> They also have stains on their t-shirts, are overweight, and act morose all the time.

Describes more than one 20-something developer I know. Being a sloven does not correlate with age.

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