Claims of Age Bias Rise, but Standards of Proof Are High
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Re: Claims of Age Bias Rise, but Standards of Proof Are High
#2Personally, I worry about this in our industry. I plan to save, invest, and diversify my income. That way I can get out of the sooner, rather than later. I don't want to end up being a 50+ year old who can no longer get a job.
Re: Claims of Age Bias Rise, but Standards of Proof Are High
#3I still maintain there's age-cohort bias (anti boomer, etc.), not strictly age bias.
In 2000, I remember most people over 30 being clueless about the Internet (given that the population who were familiar with the Internet in the 80swas so small...that core group was of course super clueful, but was of measure zero vs. people who were learning about it in college every year.)
Now, it's largely been the case that anyone in engineering/tech has had extensive contact with the Internet, even if not a CS person, since the 90s. 30s/40s today are a lot different from 15 years ago.
In 10-20y, there will be plenty of 50/60 year olds who had grown up with the Internet.
So while this might be a problem now, it's correcting itself with time.
Re: Claims of Age Bias Rise, but Standards of Proof Are High
#4it's particularly concerning to see this at a nonprofit, publicly funded research university. we would expect something a bit nobler from an institution of this category. the troubling transformation happening to the american university landscape will, i predict, have significant effects on society at large in the coming decades.
Re: Claims of Age Bias Rise, but Standards of Proof Are High
#5I still maintain there's age-cohort bias (anti boomer, etc.), not strictly age bias. In 2000, I remember most people over 30 being clueless about the Internet (given that the population who were familiar with the Internet in the 80swas so small...that core group was of course super clueful, but was of measure zero vs. people who were learning about it in college every year.) Now, it's largely been the case that anyon…
Sure, although there will continue to be new technologies that separate one generation from the next.
Re: Claims of Age Bias Rise, but Standards of Proof Are High
#6Personally, I worry about this in our industry. I plan to save, invest, and diversify my income. That way I can get out of the sooner, rather than later. I don't want to end up being a 50+ year old who can no longer get a job.
But isn't the number of "old" engineers going to increase with time? (Assuming you mean 'Software/Hardware Engineering' by 'our industry')
So wouldn't the future be a little more forgiving when the number of 50-something engineers is quite a bit more than (presumably) what it is today?
Re: Claims of Age Bias Rise, but Standards of Proof Are High
#7Personally, I worry about this in our industry. I plan to save, invest, and diversify my income. That way I can get out of the sooner, rather than later. I don't want to end up being a 50+ year old who can no longer get a job.
But isn't the number of "old" engineers going to increase with time? (Assuming you mean 'Software/Hardware Engineering' by 'our industry') So wouldn't the future be a little more forgiving when the number of 50-something engineers is quite a bit more than (presumably) what it is today?
Maybe, but I'd rather not risk it.
Re: Claims of Age Bias Rise, but Standards of Proof Are High
#8I still maintain there's age-cohort bias (anti boomer, etc.), not strictly age bias. In 2000, I remember most people over 30 being clueless about the Internet (given that the population who were familiar with the Internet in the 80swas so small...that core group was of course super clueful, but was of measure zero vs. people who were learning about it in college every year.) Now, it's largely been the case that anyon…
I'd hazard a guess that there is some appearance bias involved, as well.
Older people tend toward higher BMI, and younger overweight people "carry" their weight better.
Discrimination on appearance is already well-documented.
Re: Claims of Age Bias Rise, but Standards of Proof Are High
#9I think this is caused by how heavily age segregated our societies are, from education and child care to nursing homes and elder care.
Re: Claims of Age Bias Rise, but Standards of Proof Are High
#10Personally, I worry about this in our industry. I plan to save, invest, and diversify my income. That way I can get out of the sooner, rather than later. I don't want to end up being a 50+ year old who can no longer get a job.
> I don't want to end up being a 50+ year old who can no longer get a job
So just stay relevant? I'm 28, been coding for 19 years. What was relevant to learn when I was in middle and high school is completely useless now. All those endless hours spent learning how to make games in Pascal, irrelevant technologies. All those endless hours spent learning PHP3/4 and cobbling together websites and crude frameworks, irrelevant tech.
But on a higher level, all of that has proven useful. Technologies change, syntax evolves, semantics improve, but your deep understanding of how to ask just the right question of a business person that turns a mathematically unsolvable problem, into something you can build in three days. That is always going to stay relevant.
Keep improving. Be an engineer, not just a coder.