111–120 of 158 posts
WTF: "an Old" Is that supposed to be "millennial" lingo?
At least, when I see it, it's usually an older person saying something like "As an old I really don't get this fashion for tattoos that look like someone scribbled random doodles all over you."
It's not complicated: the costs of software development are almost entirely in labor. As long as that remains true, older people will be at a severe disadvantage simply because they cost 2-5 times as much as a new hire. Once Moore's Law slows down (or whatever we want to call the current golden age we're seemingly still in), this will change, but until then you're just fighting against exponential growth.
Software development isn't "knowledge work", if the additional knowledge of experience isn't valued. It's more like "typing work".
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Prevalent. I'm applying for jobs. Hot market. Both I and my peers are finding it much harder than as fresh college grads. A lot of this is structural: Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc. interviews ask very easy big-O style algorithmic questions and prioritize speed and accuracy. A lot of us more experienced folk haven't done this in years. We can solve more complex, multifaceted questions, but those aren't asked. It's ab…
If you spent 4 weeks drilling basic CS problems do you think you will pass the interview? When I look into them I feel like I can pick it back up quickly. On a tangent: which city are you looking in?
I think the bigger problem is none of the other skills I have seem to even matter for Google/Amazon/Facebook hiring. I would rather practice those skills and find niche openings which value people like me than do prep for a broken process. Plus I have family, consulting, etc, so I don't want to just drill. I'm not desperate. I could be wrong (no offers yet, but just started on sites so don't expect any yet) but I think I have better options elsewhere.
If I weren't actively looking, I wouldn't even consider those types of jobs, and this is the first time in my life actively looking. In other words, Google has no chance of poaching someone like me. I think the word for that is implicit bias or disparate impact.
Boston area.
I'm in the opposite of this situation, I'm among the 10% of the youngest employees in the company, when around 60% of the company will be retiring within a decade. We're also in one of those high cost housing markets, and while I'm very well paid comparatively to others in my particular part of the technology sector - its still not enough to buy a house, or settle down - but they're somewhat unsympathetic when I talk…
If it makes you feel any better, it wasn’t until I was 30 that my wife and I had enough for a downpayment for a house. When I graduated, my salary was $40k. And, 3-bedroom houses, in my economically-attractive, but not extravagent, area were around $300k. Rent for a 2br was about $1000 / month, so saving $60k took quite a few years. Of course, several co-workers had well-off parents who bought them their first house…
Not sure if that's meant to evoke sympathy, but to me that sounds extremely entitled. I'd be grateful if I had a house at 30.
Is it common for people around you to feel they deserve to own a house?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Why not go get a job at Google? If you’re good the received wisdom seems to be to inhale Cracking the Coding Interview and the Algorithm Design Manual. If they don’t have any open positions where you’d like to work that’s one thing but why not take the extra money if it’s there?
Google and others in the big five also evaluate "career trajectory".
That means you need to show continuous progression in your career as a non-entry-level hire. Someone who has reached a plateau in salary usually doesn't have that, a "grizzled" tech veteran won't be able to show continuous career progression after surviving ups and downs in the industry (layoffs, failed companies, career changes).
There are exceptions, of course, but those of us who are "olds" have to be more than just "good" to compete with younger talent in many (but not all) workplaces.
I wonder how prevalent the whole ageism thing is. It makes good articles because half the engineers are afraid of it, but how widespread is this? Could be just a dozen isolated cases that the media latches on?
As a salesman who is constantly told he is "too young" and is habitually underpaid/fired, I can tell you that age discrimination is both real and highly arbitrary. If anybody out there can see the value in having an enthusiastic customer advocate, rather than just another sales guy, please do reply :)
Funny thing is when you are old enough, people won't tell you.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.