Isn't one way to ensure your continuing relevance to avoid managerial positions? In my experience a lot of older people are less attractive employees because after 10 years of management their skills are very generic and hard to specify.
You’re How Old? We’ll Be in Touch
101–110 of 265 posts
Re: You’re How Old? We’ll Be in Touch
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
A company that's a startup building an MVP for a consumer app might not care if its software ever works reliably, or will be maintainable in five years. But if you're a bank, or a big on-line retailer, or a company that sells enterprise software - a business where you or your customers push billions of dollars of business through a software system - you definitely do care.
> But if you're a bank, or a big on-line retailer, or a company that sells enterprise software - a business where you or your customers push billions of dollars of business through a software system - you definitely do care. Funny, those companies have the least reliable, performant, and maintainable code.
citation needed
Re: You’re How Old? We’ll Be in Touch
#103Disclaimer: The following are existential questions that do not reflect my own beliefs in any way, shape, or form. Why do older people deserve jobs? Why does anyone deserve a job? Are there instances where we as a society accept people NOT deserving a job? How different is age as an attribute compared to: Felons, the mentally impaired, the under-qualified, those lacking physical attributes?
> Why do older people deserve jobs?
This is begging the question from the outset. Jobs aren't handed out like a treat for good behaviour; they're not something you deserve or not. Unless someone else is taking care of you, you have to work in order to remain alive.
Re: You’re How Old? We’ll Be in Touch
#104Re: You’re How Old? We’ll Be in Touch
#105Re: You’re How Old? We’ll Be in Touch
#106I don't see many old sysadmins in companies I've worked in. Even fewer older developers, I have a slight worry that this career path has an affinity for youth- which I won't have for much longer. So this is disheartening to read.
FWIW one of the factors in choosing my current employer (I'm not "old" by any other industry's standards, but starting to have some visible grey in my hair) was how many of the people I met there who were older/more experienced, married with kids, etc.
Which is nice. People care about work/life balance, have been around the block a few times so there's less stereotypical startup attitude. Also some of the best in-office conversations with co-workers I've had.
Re: You’re How Old? We’ll Be in Touch
#107I don't see many old sysadmins in companies I've worked in. Even fewer older developers, I have a slight worry that this career path has an affinity for youth- which I won't have for much longer. So this is disheartening to read.
Tech fields have an inherent disuse for seniority. Beyond five years, no one gives an f how long you have worked with a given toolchain/language. It's the hunger games. Medicine, finance, law, accounting...rightly or wrongly respect decades of experience. Tech is Logan's Run. Plan accordingly.
"Tech fields have an inherent disuse for seniority. Beyond five years, no one gives an f how long you have worked with a given toolchain/language."
For front-end work maybe, lower down the stack, five years might not be enough to handle the more important things like the corporate RDBMS. A few grey hairs to oversee the youngsters is quite the norm the closer you get to the real value and money of organisations.
Re: You’re How Old? We’ll Be in Touch
#108I'm going to start only hiring old (>35) developer. Basically kids rush through their work. I need experienced craft-driven workers who understand the big picture. So I'll swap the young/ambitious language for "mature, well rounded".
And it worked!
My new UX person is over 40! Best part? Rather than waste time masturbating over the latest CSS "framework" we're crafting lean, responsive, modular front-end code that our own team can maintain and extend without hitting the inevitable "wall" when trying something unique that the FW (at any layer) don't handle.
One old, grey beard in place of three up-starts.
My time managing is reduced, better quality output, reduced training time. The overall cost to the company is less! FTW!
Re: You’re How Old? We’ll Be in Touch
#109I don't see many old sysadmins in companies I've worked in. Even fewer older developers, I have a slight worry that this career path has an affinity for youth- which I won't have for much longer. So this is disheartening to read.
Of the 3 Linux admins that were above me last decade or so, none are still in the industry.
One went into medicine, one went into real estate, and the last I believe became a firearm instructor.
None had passion for Linux or sysadmin per se. It was just a job they could get with enough pay and lifestyle (stable location, hours etc) they wanted. When they got older, they simply moved onto different jobs that they thought could pay them more or enjoyed more.
I do wonder, how the job market of linux/sysadmin will shape out in 20 years...
Re: You’re How Old? We’ll Be in Touch
#110I don't see many old sysadmins in companies I've worked in. Even fewer older developers, I have a slight worry that this career path has an affinity for youth- which I won't have for much longer. So this is disheartening to read.
don't see many old sysadmins ... well, how many do you actually see anyway? Usually they're invisible. Secondly, the profession of sysadmin is disappearing fast with automation, and older and more experienced people have probably ridden that wave somewhere else already.
"DevOps" is the new sysadmin.