171–180 of 341 posts
Skills pay the bills. Many of the over-40 crowd I've worked with just plain don't want to learn anything new. They have settled, and are passive in their learning. This is the #1 reason they won't be relevant.
I'm over 40 and I've been continuing to get more work than I can handle by staying up to date on my tech skills. Maybe that professional headshot I never got would help, though.
I'm personally sick of keeping my skills up to date (ie. learning whatever the trendy tech of the week happens to be), and I'm kind of burnt out on the whole tech scene in general.. actually burnt out on it long ago, but I keep working in the field because I don't have the training in anything else, and really don't have much motivation to put in the enormous amount of effort it will take to switch careers at this po…
It used to be that working on a dynamic team (with member of different age) would be a big source of motivation. But nowadays with remote working and teams spread all over the world (and managers and business units having different agenda sometimes), this seems to fade away, hard to find anyway.
What is left? Somehow I have grown to hate an unfinished job -- a failed, or a late, or simply a clunky product. I can't help but think that I've put in it days of my life that I count much more thoroughly now than I used to.
Another source -- I hate to fail people who puts trust in me, and they tend to do this more now than when I was younger.
Funny enough, people's managers in companies I have been don't seem to understand these motivational factors. In yearly career-development meetings, I absolutely had to provide a "proof of motivation" by coming up with a "career path" leading somewhere.
I find it fascinating that when there is a discussion about age discrimination, most commenters have "advice" for the old farts how to stay current, learn current hip tech, be willing to work longer hours etc. However, we we talk about women in computing, it is always sexism and the discussion is about how the corporations need to change to attract more women. Pretty asymmetrical, don't you think?
And of course the funny thing is, I'm an "old fart", I have been levelling up for the past 20 years. I put the first Elixir app into production before Elixir hit 1.0- I'm staying current. I work long hours, for startups, I can handle that intensity. The assumption that we're slower, out dated and unwilling to put the hours in is kinda prejudicial. Some of us may be, but TBH I see a lot of foolishness, wasted time and…
I find it fascinating that when there is a discussion about age discrimination, most commenters have "advice" for the old farts how to stay current, learn current hip tech, be willing to work longer hours etc. However, we we talk about women in computing, it is always sexism and the discussion is about how the corporations need to change to attract more women. Pretty asymmetrical, don't you think?
My company is undergoing a big diversity initiative. Although the company is 75% female, the first task to is increase the number of women in tech. Race is also a factor. When asked about what is being done about age discrimination, there was a roundabout answer that did not address anything. Age diversity is not trendy. EDIT: I should clarify that I have nothing against the diversity initiative in general, just poin…
In the educational world this is called affirmative action.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The reason IPA is so popular is because for so long the american beer landscape was dominated by brews like Budwiser that are quite weakly flavored. This was an artifact of prohibition destroying most of the competitive landscape with the survivors dominating the market for decades and in turn using anticompetitive laws to their advantage. IPA is a reaction against that flavor profile. You'll be starting to see new f…
Why not flavor with malts? I haven't looked into the history of American beer, but many styles seem to come from the price of local ingredients and qualities of local water. That makes me things hops were cheap and plentiful and caused the IPA trend.
If you're in Boston, give Aeronaut Brewery in Somerville a try (https://goo.gl/maps/bm22XaBvFPQ2). I have something of an interest of it, but I (unsurprisingly) recommend them.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
My theory: they taste like pine trees, and we've got a lot of pine trees, so it just feels right. Try drinking an IPA in Mexico sometimes. Super inappropes. But in PNW it makes sense. For awhile, til you get sick of it.
Here's an idea for a craft brew. Replace the hops with actual white pine needles. And Googling for "beer with pine needles"... ...dammit. "Spruce beer". That idea is literally centuries old. At least five breweries currently use evergreen bits as flavoring agents, and at least 16 have tried reviving gruit recipes in some form or another. Apparently, Sitka spruce tips are popular in Alaska, being far more available th…
(Personally, I wasn't a fan of IPAs before they got big, but preferred the amber -> porter/stout range)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In theory the more experience you have the fewer hours you would need to put in. You've solved all the common problems engineers face 10 times before.
This. I've found the need to be a 60+ hour hero means that you don't really know what you are doing. The guy who goes home early on Fridays, that is the guy who knows his stuff.
Or spending too much time in the calls instead of doing the damn thing. Or counting handling the email client as work hours.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I get your point but that's not the best way to make it.
Really? I think it is a perfect way to tell anyone with 80hr week to rethink the situation.
For 40-year-old techies looking for a company to round out their career, are the SV biggies the wrong place to look?
This is such bullshit. There are no limits on entrepreneurship and the age at which you can start a business, which is what drives real growth and value in Silicon Valley. Sure, if you want to be a wage slave to some other company, and help someone else achieve their dreams, go ahead and work for another company, and get discriminated against because of your grey hair.
Think about it logically, if businesses do work and get work done... how can you start a business without any workers?
An economy with existing businesses can function just fine without any entrepreneurs. On the other hand, there are no economies on the face of this earth that can function without any workers.