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Old Geek Jobs: fighting against ageism in the industry

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Re: Old Geek Jobs: fighting against ageism in the industry

#31

Post by throwanem »

SadWebDeveloper wrote: post #9

The sad part is that when you reach that age (31 here) is you start looking at the "new trend" (ex Angular, React and NodeJS) as unnecesary and the "new devs" that doesn't have any experience on making and maintaining long term projects (> 5 years) look at this as the holy grail technology and if you aren't using that technlogy it means you aren't as efficent as the "new guys" so you either migrate to management (whi…

I'm considerably older than that, and would argue from experience that the mistake is in regarding everything new as just another fad.

Often it's good to wait a while and see how things play out with a new technology before deciding whether to invest in it. But you don't want to fall into the bad habit of making such evaluations on prejudice, rather than merit.

Re: Old Geek Jobs: fighting against ageism in the industry

#32

Post by witty_username »

SadWebDeveloper wrote: post #4
tjic wrote: post #2

I think that the "Bay Area scene" is different from much of the world. I think that part of human nature is that people like people who are like themselves, so you sometimes get these insular / discriminatory sub cultures that judge people on superficial traits instead of the quality of their minds. From both this article and the tales of many friends, San Francisco strikes as one of these low-tolerance / high-discri…

Problem with your solution is that you already now people, if you don't you have to rely on websites like freelancer that pretty much are the same as paid-to-win-the-bid in modern mobile video games and it's sad when people all over the world bid really low those making the website effectively racist regarding devs that to this for living instead of side jobs.

How is the website racist?

Re: Old Geek Jobs: fighting against ageism in the industry

#34

Post by rdtsc »

tjic wrote: post #2

I think that the "Bay Area scene" is different from much of the world. I think that part of human nature is that people like people who are like themselves, so you sometimes get these insular / discriminatory sub cultures that judge people on superficial traits instead of the quality of their minds. From both this article and the tales of many friends, San Francisco strikes as one of these low-tolerance / high-discri…

> Personally, I dislike places where people are provincial and close-minded, so I'll stick to the rural countryside and leave SF to the bigots.

I like that quote. Copied it to my notes for future reference.

To expand more on the topic, I wonder if remote workers are a good way to bring some revival for smaller rural communities.

I visit some of those places and many have a beautiful setting, everyone knows each other, there is a sense of a community. It is quiet.

There is probably a tipping point where if enough companies would hire remote workers, people won't be afraid to move to such communities. Currently many (including me) even if they do remote work, would probably be hesitant to move, because if they have to jump ship, they know there is a smaller chance of getting remote work again. So staying closer to a tech center seems like a better option.

Re: Old Geek Jobs: fighting against ageism in the industry

#35

Post by kelukelugames »

morgante wrote: post #6
johnwheeler wrote: post #3

Hi Everybody, I'm the creator of the site the down blog in the OP links to https://oldgeekjobs.com . I developed it as an MVP last night in one hour. The blog looks like it's getting crushed under load, so here's the content of the post: Check out https://oldgeekjobs.com/ if you’re over 30. In the software development industry it’s hard to get hired when you get past 35 and are still “just a developer”. Employers loo…

Be careful to not discriminate against young people either. Assuming developers in their 20s are naive and underpaid is just as insulting as attitudes towards older developers. This isn't necessarily an indictment of you. I'm just a little sick of people stereotyping younger developers on Hacker News when the truth is that most of us get great value for our time and are well aware of the choices we make.

Hi I'm 32. I noticed some candidates show visible displeasure when being interviewed by younger interviewers. I know many interviewees and interviewers who have experienced this.

Re: Old Geek Jobs: fighting against ageism in the industry

#36

Post by whamlastxmas »

morgante wrote: post #6
johnwheeler wrote: post #3

Hi Everybody, I'm the creator of the site the down blog in the OP links to https://oldgeekjobs.com . I developed it as an MVP last night in one hour. The blog looks like it's getting crushed under load, so here's the content of the post: Check out https://oldgeekjobs.com/ if you’re over 30. In the software development industry it’s hard to get hired when you get past 35 and are still “just a developer”. Employers loo…

Be careful to not discriminate against young people either. Assuming developers in their 20s are naive and underpaid is just as insulting as attitudes towards older developers. This isn't necessarily an indictment of you. I'm just a little sick of people stereotyping younger developers on Hacker News when the truth is that most of us get great value for our time and are well aware of the choices we make.

This is the equivalent of someone making a job site for black people to get jobs, and saying "be careful not to discriminate against whites!".

Re: Old Geek Jobs: fighting against ageism in the industry

#37

Post by kelukelugames »

johnwheeler wrote: post #3

Hi Everybody, I'm the creator of the site the down blog in the OP links to https://oldgeekjobs.com . I developed it as an MVP last night in one hour. The blog looks like it's getting crushed under load, so here's the content of the post: Check out https://oldgeekjobs.com/ if you’re over 30. In the software development industry it’s hard to get hired when you get past 35 and are still “just a developer”. Employers loo…

I find it weird we consider over 30 old when legal protection doesn't kick in until we are over 40.

Re: Old Geek Jobs: fighting against ageism in the industry

#38

Post by steveax »

tjic wrote: post #13
vemv wrote: post #11

You don't want to be coding by age 50 anyway. Sooner or later it has to end. If you are a young programmer and your salary merely covers your costs of living (including leisure etc), it seems to me that you need a plan.

I've been a coder. I've been a manager. I've owned a firm that had 15 employees. Of all of these, I prefer to be a coder. I'm just 5 years away from 50, and let me tell you: not only do I want to be a developer at 50, I want to be a developer at 70. Being a developer means getting paid good money to work on problems that are perfectly suited to my INTJ / spergy personality. There's nothing else I'd rather do with my…

I'm 5 years on the other side of 50 and similar story. Did 8 years in the game industry, 3D and technical art, then as a co-founder of a small (22 employees at height) game studio, coding since then. Still love it - and yes I have a plan :-)

Re: Old Geek Jobs: fighting against ageism in the industry

#39

Post by mhurron »

bdunbar wrote: post #29
SadWebDeveloper wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Problem with your solution is that you already now people, if you don't you have to rely on websites like freelancer that pretty much are the same as paid-to-win-the-bid in modern mobile video games and it's sad when people all over the world bid really low those making the website effectively racist regarding devs that to this for living instead of side jobs.

Everyone knows someone. Build on that. You work with people. Those people know people. They know other people. Someone says 'I need a good PHP guy' and a guy in the network replies 'I know a guy, SadWebDeveloper - here is his email address'. Boom: you have made contact with someone who wants to hire you. Join the Whatever User Group in your area. Go to the meetings - introduce yourself. Be a presence on their mail li…

> Everyone knows someone

No they don't. And your solution to not being stuck with closed and insular groups is join some closed and insular groups so that your name can be passed around as one of the group.

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