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Ask HN: 40+ Career Advice?

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Re: Ask HN: 40+ Career Advice?

#81

Post by pjmlp »

itgoon wrote: post #77
Yenderman wrote: post #56

When I was 30, people just looked at me and assumed I was a competent software engineer because I looked exactly like a very senior software engineer, and I presented myself in that way. But I was very junior, having made a recent career change. Yet they paid me like a prince, and I rose so rapidly through the ranks that I became an executive. Now I'm 50, and my company folded and I went to the curb, and am looking f…

I've had a lot of success with having Github projects to answer that question. "Look for yourself" is a great comeback. It doesn't even have to be original, or particularly useful. Just something that shows that you understand what modern development is about: neat code, good docs, unit tests, regular commits. Use modern libraries and idioms. Heck, I don't think anyplace has even tried the code.

I try to do the same, however it is an up hill battle with HR if the github contents happen to be in distinct domains that what the CV states.

Re: Ask HN: 40+ Career Advice?

#83

Post by toomuchtodo »

jensv wrote: post #68
Yenderman wrote: post #56

When I was 30, people just looked at me and assumed I was a competent software engineer because I looked exactly like a very senior software engineer, and I presented myself in that way. But I was very junior, having made a recent career change. Yet they paid me like a prince, and I rose so rapidly through the ranks that I became an executive. Now I'm 50, and my company folded and I went to the curb, and am looking f…

That's insanity. What is wrong with this industry????

Being ageist cost nothing and is hard to prove.

Re: Ask HN: 40+ Career Advice?

#84

Post by _skel »

madeuptempacct wrote: post #76
Yenderman wrote: post #56

When I was 30, people just looked at me and assumed I was a competent software engineer because I looked exactly like a very senior software engineer, and I presented myself in that way. But I was very junior, having made a recent career change. Yet they paid me like a prince, and I rose so rapidly through the ranks that I became an executive. Now I'm 50, and my company folded and I went to the curb, and am looking f…

The prospect of being a senior dev and 40 is terrifying to me. The only ones who are treated with any respect are the "real" wizards - i.e. the guys who spent every spare second if their life breathing tech. The guy who decompiles third party code at 4 am to see why their update caused an error in our system (real recent story). The other (very competent) older people get actively harassed. Some little *es from my co…

I'm in Silicon Valley and I work with plenty of well-compensated, valued engineers in their 40s and 50s. They are easier to find at large companies than at startups -- part of that is due to ageism, but another factor is that they are done putting up with the startup bs and want a stable job with good benefits and a high salary and work-life balance.

Some of them are senior individual contributors, some of them are in engineering management, and some have transitioned from engineering to project management. Many of them could afford to retire today but want to keep working. And very few of them are still in the building after 5:30pm, because they have lives to go home to and refuse to work crazy startup hours.

Ageism is real in the industry. But the outlook for engineers over 40 is not a terrifying or bleak as you make it seem.

Re: Ask HN: 40+ Career Advice?

#85

Post by pjmlp »

From another's mid-40 point of view, the only ways to avoid such management like positions is to either go consulting, e.g. Android + Spring Boot expert on your case, or accept a position at a company with lower pay but with those perks that you list.

In either case it is an hard fight, as most HR departments and head hunters try to offer management positions, so it is up to you to make your point about what you really want, and accept it takes a bit longer to find such positions.

Re: Ask HN: 40+ Career Advice?

#86

Post by pjmlp »

mdpopescu wrote: post #73
wheaties wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry but that's a very good way to hurt your career. The community is surprisingly small. As in, I swear it's less than 3 hops from me to most people who might cross my desk when recruiting. I can tell you we know who have done this and we shy away from them. They're a waste of time.

Huh. I can't understand where you would be to have that happen - my job pool is about ten countries in Europe, a few in Africa and Asia, plus Australia. (Countries where you can expect programming jobs to allow for English-only speakers.)

Working on the same city?

Most people don't keep jumping between countries.

Even on a large city like Lisbon it is relatively easy to meet old time university friends or former colleges, because consulting companies have more or less the same costumers.

Re: Ask HN: 40+ Career Advice?

#87

Post by trebligdivad »

Yes they exist. I'm Mid 40's; been working from home for ~5 years for a large international software company as a dev. If you're doing remote, make sure it's in a team where there's a fairly large chunk of remotees - being the only remotee is a bit weird (fortunately at this job most of the team are remote).

Re: Ask HN: 40+ Career Advice?

#88

Post by goldfeld »

mdpopescu wrote: post #73
wheaties wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry but that's a very good way to hurt your career. The community is surprisingly small. As in, I swear it's less than 3 hops from me to most people who might cross my desk when recruiting. I can tell you we know who have done this and we shy away from them. They're a waste of time.

Huh. I can't understand where you would be to have that happen - my job pool is about ten countries in Europe, a few in Africa and Asia, plus Australia. (Countries where you can expect programming jobs to allow for English-only speakers.)

You really can't?

Re: Ask HN: 40+ Career Advice?

#90

Post by jcadam »

wheaties wrote: post #36
ngngngng wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A good strategy in this scenario is to take the first job you can when you need money, but keep interviewing. This way you can be more selective since your needs are already being met.

Sorry but that's a very good way to hurt your career. The community is surprisingly small. As in, I swear it's less than 3 hops from me to most people who might cross my desk when recruiting. I can tell you we know who have done this and we shy away from them. They're a waste of time.

Yep, I've been in a job for 11 months now that I knew was a bad fit by the end of the first week.

I figure I need to stay at least a year -- at least then I won't have to pay the singing bonus back.

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