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64 and unemployed: One man's struggle to be taken seriously as a job applicant

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Re: 64 and unemployed: One man's struggle to be taken seriously as a job applicant

#71

Post by pacomerh »

throwaway24572 wrote: post #51

So here's some hiring anti-patterns I've seen, it's not just millennial managers, but I've seen these patterns in lots of companies and interviews. 1. Managers that want to hire people they could be best friends with. Drinking buddies, social media socialites, etc. Don't confuse this with hiring their best friends, they just feel more comfortable around people that they could socialize with. 2. Managers that don't wa…

#1 and #3 you can probably avoid by working remotely. The thing with remote work is, companies usually look for devs with above average skills, they also look for devs with previous remote experience and of course awesome communication. As for #4, that's a difficult one, I think you could probably get around #4 if you have a great portfolio of working projects

Re: 64 and unemployed: One man's struggle to be taken seriously as a job applicant

#72

Post by porpoisely »

skizm wrote: post #29

I feel like there is less of a stigma for older contractors. Might be a good idea if you’re getting older in a tech career to shift from full time to contract work?

That makes a lot of sense since the company isn't as invested in a temp/contract hire as opposed to a full time employee. Hiring managers might be more willing to take a chance on an older contract worker than an older full time staff. And frankly speaking, the guy is a temp/contract worker whether he realizes it or not. Even if he secured a full-time position, he'd be the first to be laid off during a recession or downsizing.

But to be doing contract work at 64 can be rough. Is he willing or able to travel/commute at that age? But definitely something to consider.

Re: 64 and unemployed: One man's struggle to be taken seriously as a job applicant

#73

Post by gnarbarian »

crispyambulance wrote: post #32
towaway1138 wrote: post #15

I'm only in my 50s, but this is very relateable. Did a couple dozen interviews a year or two ago before finally getting a bite. Somewhat amazingly, even passed the hiring committee at a FANG, only to get swatted down by a rare strike from the executive level. In one interview, was asked to produce a class that could serialize and deserialize a list of numbers, to/from a string of chars. Sure, it's not that hard. Took…

I find it disturbing he can't find work as a project manager. If anything, that's one role where the practitioners typically know fuck-all about nothing and where good ones are worth their weight in gold. I LOVE to work with ADULT project managers who have a clue about how projects actually unfold and how things actually get done with a wide variety of personalities in the mix. Instead, more often than not, you get 2…

Even programmers who migrate to project management can lose touch insanely fast. I've seen it happen multiple times. I'm doing both PM work and programming on a project right now and the temptation is always there to just pass off what I'm working on to one of the contractors instead of doing it myself.

Re: 64 and unemployed: One man's struggle to be taken seriously as a job applicant

#74

Post by scarface74 »

myresume wrote: post #16

I have experienced this myself. I am going on 50. I am actually looking for work now. And I have kept up and I am using modern tech stacks. http://geoffreycallaghan.com

I don’t know where you are. But with that skillset, recruiters should be throwing jobs at you in most major American cities. I know for a fact that recruiters in Atlanta would be salivating at the chance to placd you. As I said before, I am in my mid 40s.

Re: 64 and unemployed: One man's struggle to be taken seriously as a job applicant

#75

Post by 098328 »

zmmmmm wrote: post #24

It's tragic and I wish younger devs could have even a small understanding of how pernicious this phenomenon is. No, you won't escape it because you're awesome, or because you love learning new things etc etc. I'm lucky: I switched into a role where deep domain experience is essential, I did a PhD, I'm one of the top experts in a growing field - I'm more or less insulated from this. Indeed, now I hire people and I'm a…

Do you only hire young people or would you hire older PhDs?

Re: 64 and unemployed: One man's struggle to be taken seriously as a job applicant

#76

Post by gtirloni »

throes_death wrote: post #63
x0x0 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's easy to say crap like have 6 months of savings. My partner was laid off during an industry-wide crash. She was unemployed for a year, and it took her 7 years (a complete career change) to regain anything like her former earnings. Very few people have the savings to be out of work, or earning 1/4 of what they used to, for years on end. Meanwhile, you've accumulated a life dependent on a certain income level. That…

> a different gym Perhaps no gym?

You picked the easiest in the list. Try selling your house for a fair price and see how long it'll take.

Re: 64 and unemployed: One man's struggle to be taken seriously as a job applicant

#77

Post by zamalek »

perryh2 wrote: post #50
crispyambulance wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it disturbing he can't find work as a project manager. If anything, that's one role where the practitioners typically know fuck-all about nothing and where good ones are worth their weight in gold. I LOVE to work with ADULT project managers who have a clue about how projects actually unfold and how things actually get done with a wide variety of personalities in the mix. Instead, more often than not, you get 2…

In today's world of agile development, I haven't met any project managers worthy of anything. I feel that strong product managers are capable of managing development as well. I can't believe there are actual people getting paid to move JIRA tickets around full-time.

I worked under one in South Africa and he was genuinely passionate about project management: he was constantly in courses, constantly researching and constantly asking for feedback.

One of the teams I oversee now in NA also has a brilliant project manager. Of all my 12 years in the industry I haven't once seen someone pull a team into productivity nirvana like she does. She deeply understands the concept of agile and every sprint she is trying a new idea with her team (process is a feature!).

They do exist, but they are rare.

Re: 64 and unemployed: One man's struggle to be taken seriously as a job applicant

#78

Post by sokoloff »

yardie wrote: post #28
maerF0x0 wrote: post #5

I feel for this guy. Ageism is completely real and mostly missing from D&I initiatives. However there is a 2nd lesson to be learned here. Why in the world does he not have any savings at 64? The article is scant on details, but does mention he was in the computer industry from his 20s, and raised his son, say, until roughly his 40s. That leaves 20 prime years of earning power w/o savings? Something is amiss. To me th…

I don't like this blaming of people for not having foresight. You can do everything right and still lose it all. Let's say he started a 401K in his 20s and slid the meter all the way to right (riskier investments). He would have encountered: - 1980 recession, the one that got Reagan elected. - 1990 recession, the one that got Clinton elected. - 2001 recession, this one mainly affected tech workers. - 2008 recession,…

People who invested continuously throughout their working career have done just fine, even with the headwinds you list

https://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/27/the-inspiring-story-of-the-w...

Re: 64 and unemployed: One man's struggle to be taken seriously as a job applicant

#79

Post by thisisweirdok »

When I was in my upper 30s I was mistakingly included in a reply-all email from someone who interviewed me and said I seemed kind of old for the position.

I was ready to lose my shit on them but my wife made me wait a day before responding when she saw how angry I was.

I was considering hiring a lawyer to sue the shit out of them for discrimination, but at the end of the day I brushed it off with a snarky "at least I'm experienced enough to double check who my illegal emails are going to" and told them I was reporting it to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (which I did).

This was years ago, and I've always been well employed, but I'm still a little mad about it.

I did find out through an acquaintance that the person who mistakingly sent that email was fired almost immediately and they were pretty worried about a lawsuit.

The struggle is so real. It's insane.

Re: 64 and unemployed: One man's struggle to be taken seriously as a job applicant

#80

Post by zhte415 »

yardie wrote: post #28
maerF0x0 wrote: post #5

I feel for this guy. Ageism is completely real and mostly missing from D&I initiatives. However there is a 2nd lesson to be learned here. Why in the world does he not have any savings at 64? The article is scant on details, but does mention he was in the computer industry from his 20s, and raised his son, say, until roughly his 40s. That leaves 20 prime years of earning power w/o savings? Something is amiss. To me th…

I don't like this blaming of people for not having foresight. You can do everything right and still lose it all. Let's say he started a 401K in his 20s and slid the meter all the way to right (riskier investments). He would have encountered: - 1980 recession, the one that got Reagan elected. - 1990 recession, the one that got Clinton elected. - 2001 recession, this one mainly affected tech workers. - 2008 recession,…

And to add: low interest rates that tend to follow crashes, especially after the 2008 crash, make purchase of annuities even more expensive.
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