Ask HN: Laid-off readers over 50, have you left the tech workforce? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Laid-off readers over 50, have you left the tech workforce?

#111

Post by marme » Thu, Apr 26, 2018, 10:23 PM UTC

benburleson wrote: post #91

ProAm wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if you sue and win you'll likely never work again due to it.

Serious question: If this is the expectation, is it not possible to sue for the actual damages, which is a lifetime of income?

no because the actual damage is just your lost income at that job. The reason you will never work again is no one wants to hire someone who sues their employer which is not caused by them firing you. It is the same with renting, if you sue your landlord no other landlord will touch you, many places maintain blacklists of tenants who have sued their landlords

Re: Ask HN: Laid-off readers over 50, have you left the tech workforce?

#112

Post by markbnj » Thu, Apr 26, 2018, 10:27 PM UTC

strongbond wrote: post #26

lproven wrote: post #18

I lost my last permanent job in London at the end of 2008, at the beginning of the financial crisis in the UK. I applied for about two thousand roles in 2009 alone, and from 2008-2013, about 3,500 roles in total... In about 6-8 countries in multiple disciplines. I averaged 30+ applications _per day_ at first... and 1 interview per year. From 2009 to 2013 I got 2 months of paying work in total. Reason? I think it's be…

I'm very sorry to hear about your experience. But when I hear that you think 41 is old I have to stifle a slight cough. I'm 58 and started my most recent job 2 months ago. Before that, I worked for FICO in the UK for 1 year and 9 months. I've had 5 or 6 jobs since I was 41, but I've always put the (enjoyable) time in at home to learn new stuff. It keeps you young.

Also 58 and working as an SRE at a company I love. Greybeards unite!

Re: Ask HN: Laid-off readers over 50, have you left the tech workforce?

#113

Post by modbait » Thu, Apr 26, 2018, 10:28 PM UTC

rustyworm wrote: post #88

If I do, I'll be waiting to be recalled when the dreaded "Year 2038 Problem" happens. ;)

oblig: "It says here you know COBOL..."

Re: Ask HN: Laid-off readers over 50, have you left the tech workforce?

#114

Post by mixmastamyk » Thu, Apr 26, 2018, 10:29 PM UTC

ProAm wrote: post #81

nardonne wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's almost impossible to sue for age discrimination and win. All they have to do is lay off 1 person in their 20s at the time they laid off their older workers and they claim innocence and it works.

Even if you sue and win you'll likely never work again due to it.

Who would know unless you had a unique name and it hit the newspapers?

Re: Ask HN: Laid-off readers over 50, have you left the tech workforce?

#115

Post by Naritai » Thu, Apr 26, 2018, 10:35 PM UTC

otakucode wrote: post #68

kazinator wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, those 3500 recipients could not have known that you're 41 and tossed the application on that basis. There is just some problem other than the one you imagine. > I used to mainly work in support, from 1st/2nd/3rd line to sysadmin, systems design and spec, network architect, everything. I do Windows, Linux, Mac OS, networking, comms, some programming knowledge, training, all sorts. But I'm too old to get work as…

If your 25 years of experience are on the application, it doesn't take a math major to spot that you're not 23.

Yeah, all hiring managers know roughly how old you are by the time they've scanned your resume.

Re: Ask HN: Laid-off readers over 50, have you left the tech workforce?

#116

Post by toomuchtodo » Thu, Apr 26, 2018, 10:38 PM UTC

taurath wrote: post #46

akshat_h wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have always wondered this. Tech and probably other fields do want you to be promoted. From what I have heard, if you are not able to get promoted in certain number of years, you are put on a PIP and possibly laid off. But there are lesser number of Senior Engineers than Engineers, and lesser number of Principal Engineers than Senior Engineers. What exactly happens? Just the fact that the numbers in the pipeline is…

I work with senior engineers who are in their late 20s, and mid level devs in their 40s - I feel like the idea that a career path always has to have an upward trajectory is a bit of a farce - there are a lot of companies full of people who have kids, are competent, but don’t really want to take on the extra responsibility and time.

At some point, you realize your family is more important than a few extra dollars and an org chart.

Re: Ask HN: Laid-off readers over 50, have you left the tech workforce?

#117

Post by sheepmullet » Thu, Apr 26, 2018, 10:42 PM UTC

I think the problem is the older generation of tech workers are not mercenaries.

I know a lot of older tech workers supporting important business systems while their skills slowly become out of date.

They are frequently adding $1 million+/year in value while being paid ~$100-$120k/year.

The businesses would pay $250-$350k/year if they had to.

If the older workers were demanding the premium and saving the $100-$150k/year extra after taxes then being out of the job market for a year or two to reskill wouldn't be a problem.

Luckily most of the younger generation are very mercenary and are in tech for the money. So it's a problem that hopefully will fix itself.

Re: Ask HN: Laid-off readers over 50, have you left the tech workforce?

#118

Post by crispyporkbites » Thu, Apr 26, 2018, 10:47 PM UTC

zenpaul wrote: post #90

Ha, ha, ha, I just got laid off Monday along with most of the rest of the team with no notice. The market seems to be fairly hot here in Fairfield county CT so I'm jumping right back in and expect to pick up another job/contract in the next month. It's just a matter of rate and commute... It is tempting to just do my writing or something else but I love the work, it pays well and it's fairly expensive to live here. S…

This is great, it’s rare to hear poetry I can identify with. Thank you

Re: Ask HN: Laid-off readers over 50, have you left the tech workforce?

#119

Post by onion2k » Thu, Apr 26, 2018, 10:48 PM UTC

lproven wrote: post #18

I lost my last permanent job in London at the end of 2008, at the beginning of the financial crisis in the UK. I applied for about two thousand roles in 2009 alone, and from 2008-2013, about 3,500 roles in total... In about 6-8 countries in multiple disciplines. I averaged 30+ applications _per day_ at first... and 1 interview per year. From 2009 to 2013 I got 2 months of paying work in total. Reason? I think it's be…

Reason? I think it's because I was 41 when I started.

The implication of your post is that the hiring managers responsible for 3500 jobs are *all" discriminating on age. That seems unlikely, if only because there are people in the UK tech sector older than that who can still find roles, so evidently not all managers discriminate.

Re: Ask HN: Laid-off readers over 50, have you left the tech workforce?

#120

Post by scardine » Thu, Apr 26, 2018, 10:49 PM UTC

I'm not over 50 yet (47) but I'm done applying for programming jobs and I don't want to get back into management unless it is my own company.

Currently I'm working full time as a data engineer for a local government agency waiting for some side business to take off.

Just started a productized service business offering "an elite squad delivering a complete web application over a single one-week sprint" (the idea is to take some business process currently managed through spreadsheets+email and turn it into a web application - complete with reports, filters, search, permission control and etc in one week).