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Surviving as an ‘Old’ in the Tech World

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Re: Surviving as an ‘Old’ in the Tech World

#81

Post by gaius »

notacoward wrote: post #26
SQL2219 wrote: post #2

"young people are just smarter" Mark Zuckerberg

And what brilliant things were you saying in 2007? Yeah, that was an asinine thing for him to say, and insulting to . . . well, to people like me. I'm 53, and I happen to work at Facebook on the strength of things I've learned in the last 11 years or so. I dare say many of the people around me, including those who hired me, might have learned a thing or two as well. Maybe those who want to champion the idea of life-l…

And what brilliant things were you saying in 2007?

If Zuck had said “whites are just smarter” or “men are just smarter” he would not have gotten away with it then and it would not be forgotten or forgiven now.

It’s a valid point because it illustrates ageism is considered acceptable even today.

Re: Surviving as an ‘Old’ in the Tech World

#82

Post by [deleted] »

rdiddly wrote: post #74
crispyambulance wrote: post #37

WTF: "an Old" Is that supposed to be "millennial" lingo?

Somebody's trying to fit in and say what they heard somebody else say. Thence are these things born and propagated. This one takes an adjective and makes it a noun. Sounds more like 1950s lingo (a black, a white, a gay etc.) but with the illusion of freshness with its being applied to old people for the first time. Call me a rude, but it's a sucky. At least "old person" acknowledges they're a person.

[deleted]

Re: Surviving as an ‘Old’ in the Tech World

#83

Post by Bahamut »

markbnj wrote: post #29

> Team social events shouldn’t require physical prowess or alcoholic excess—so forget paintball and bar crawls. As a 57 year-old backend engineer I would like to keep the bar crawls, thanks.

And as a 34 year old fullstack engineer, I’ll pass.

Not that I don’t mind drinking, but it’s a net negative to me in general. I’ll drink once every few months with coworkers and that’s it.

Re: Surviving as an ‘Old’ in the Tech World

#84

Post by 01100011 »

flukus wrote: post #63
ThJ wrote: post #20

The tendency to promote people out of engineering and into management is probably down to the bottom line. At some point, an engineer's economic worth plateaus, and the only way to justify a bigger paycheck is to have him offload the upper management. Managing people is extremely time consuming. Time spent on managing people is time not spent on closing deals, maintaining business relationships, securing investments,…

> At some point, an engineer's economic worth plateaus, and the only way to justify a bigger paycheck is to have him offload the upper management. Why not just accept a paycheck that plateaus as well? Mine's been pretty flat since I first (prematurely) got to that "senior" title. I'm not anticipating big gains in future.

Yeah, I peaked in my 30s. I was happy about that - I was making good money. Unless someone at Google has an aneurysm and accidentally hires me, I expect my salary to stay about the same from here on out.

Re: Surviving as an ‘Old’ in the Tech World

#85

Post by yekepa »

I think a mix is the best. I worked in different teams, but with teams where the age were mixed I felt good and well thought out decisions was made.

Young devs are eager to learn and think older devs are in the way for new tech. Older devs have more mature look on life and know more about consequences of different decisions in the long run.

Ageism in a company makes it more shortsighted and plain out stupid. They make more mistakes, lose customers more, and make decisions that they regret later.

Re: Surviving as an ‘Old’ in the Tech World

#86

Post by ggg9990 »

intended wrote: post #79
ggg9990 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does an older person cost more? Either they produce more, or they’re overpaid. The first type is definitely worth finding and paying... I’ve seen companies built solely by 22-year old script kiddies and usually the stack can’t scale. At that point, you’re in a trickier spot because a 40-year-old who can inject some good sense at the beginning of a project is a lot more abundant than a 40-year-old who can lead a t…

Because older people have lives, children and more - coming in over the weekend is not an option. Spending extra time to "Show you love your work" is not something they care about. On the other hand that is something most American Techies in SV firms or on HN already are part of. Just sitting here on HN for so many years I know what it takes to look like an up and coming coder - and that is to breathe and live code.…

If you want to work fewer hours but don’t contribute more per hour, get used to working for less pay or being unemployed.

Re: Surviving as an ‘Old’ in the Tech World

#87

Post by 01100011 »

burlesona wrote: post #6

Good article. It’s kind of scary to me that “old” in tech means 40.

I have mixed feelings about this. I'm 43. I'm definitely still learning things and I feel like I have some productive years ahead of me. Some of the best engineers I've ever worked with have been 45-60. That said, I feel slower now. I feel like my late 30s were a sweet spot of knowledge, wisdom and capability. I'd like to think my people skills are a bit better now though. I'm more and more suited to a lead role where I'm doing dev 30-40% and mentoring the rest of the time.

Re: Surviving as an ‘Old’ in the Tech World

#88

Post by kokey »

intended wrote: post #78
abritinthebay wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only because as people get experience they end up in the “Engineering Manager” role & such. Plus there’s a GLUT of fresh grads joining each year.

Your last line is the single point of failure for this whole issue. The various systems, incentives, lies - ALL, arise from the growth paradigm. That paradigm depends on more cheap, energetic fresh meat arriving out of college/recruiters every year. Fresh grads cost less, have relatively more energy, fewer ties, and probably better cognition responses. They lack experience, but that's a solvable problem. The question…

This is also more of a US centric phenomenon, not only because of the investment culture but because it's about the only developed country with a strong young population. That said, as those of us with the experience has witnessed before, these periods of growth focus comes in cycles and when the phase ends the experience of being boring and risk-averse can actually be an advantage for survival if it's combined with skill and experience.

Re: Surviving as an ‘Old’ in the Tech World

#89

Post by dijit »

drdeadringer wrote: post #49
rmason wrote: post #36

I think my advantage is that I've seen more engineering cycles. New problems can sometimes be solved quicker by the hard fought for knowledge gained solving older ones. Mark Zuckerberg famously said young people were just smarter. In my generation it was Abbie Hoffman who said not to trust anyone over thirty. They were both wrong.

What might be "right"?

Having a diverse set of perspectives on a problem.

Young turks full of energy, old cynical farts who have seen failure and can pick out the signs.

Re: Surviving as an ‘Old’ in the Tech World

#90

Post by yekepa »

itronitron wrote: post #42
ThJ wrote: post #20

The tendency to promote people out of engineering and into management is probably down to the bottom line. At some point, an engineer's economic worth plateaus, and the only way to justify a bigger paycheck is to have him offload the upper management. Managing people is extremely time consuming. Time spent on managing people is time not spent on closing deals, maintaining business relationships, securing investments,…

promoting people out of engineering and into management is among the worst things that an organization can do

It depends, sometimes it’s a good move to give an unofficial leader an official position.
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