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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

#261

Post by i_am_nomad »

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…

Many great men and women didn’t embark upon their greatness until their fifties. And quite frankly, if you are leading a life of dignity, principles, and continual learning, you are living up to the true potential of what humans are meant to be (yet so few humans attain). Your life will be a victory whether you’re flipping burgers, houses or companies.

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

#262

Post by maxxxxx »

monocasa wrote: post #259
eecsninja wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But someone working on C++ prior to 2012 could still have encountered and experienced C++11.

Probably not, there was a really long latency between the spec coming out in 2011 and compiler support. Multiple years.

I am pretty sure I have used things like “auto” and anonymous functions around 2011. The support wasn’t complete but there was already a lot available.

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

#263

Post by i_am_nomad »

DenisM wrote: post #189
sephoric wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're at that point too. My solution is a combination of downsizing our life and making my own app business. So far the only app I released (Autumn) was a bust because I stupidly released it on New Year's Eve so practically nobody knew about it, also it's too niche. But everyone loves the quality, so I figure I'll just keep writing more apps. I've got a lot of ideas and a lot of energy. I may have to work at Walmart…

This is going to be harsh but it’s for your own good. You have no idea what you’re doing and you are blindly digging yourself deeper into the hole by writing more apps. I wrote a couple of quality apps and I had seen some success financial success with them, you are not moving in the right direction. You can’t write an app and think up a marketing plan afterwards as an extension, it’s the other way around - you find…

Your app advice reminds me of something I read on HN: “Fall in love with the problem, not the solution.“

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

#264

Post by csa »

Novashi wrote: post #152
csa wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Check out jobs with the federal government and/or with government contractors. The work might not be as sexy or as lucrative (although sometimes it is), but the pay is stable (lolol... shutdowns notwithstanding) at a middle-class level. The government is desperate for people who can code.

>The government is desperate for people who can code. Not desperate enough to teach people to code who want to learn though. But I bet half the need is from mountains of shit code anyway. The contracting and procurement processes are fucked (source: friend who works in gov't IT contracts -- stay far away from any dev positions involving Dept. of VA). Demand for good devs is going to be won by companies. We clearly ca…

I agree with many parts of your reply.

That said, the context was about older and experienced devs who, for some reason, can’t find a job in the private labor market.

The federal government is a much safer bet for these people. As bad as it can be, it’s better than unemployed. Some of the jobs are actually good.

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

#265

Post by monocasa »

maxxxxx wrote: post #262
monocasa wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably not, there was a really long latency between the spec coming out in 2011 and compiler support. Multiple years.

I am pretty sure I have used things like “auto” and anonymous functions around 2011. The support wasn’t complete but there was already a lot available.

Stuff like range based for would have just come out.

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

#266

Post by brobdingnagians »

ilovetux wrote: post #257
ilovetux wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen something similar where a company made a spot for themselves hiring aging cobol programmers and making pretty good money contracting with other companies. I will try to find a link to the article I read.

I found the link. The company is called COBOL Cowboys. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-banks-cobol/banks-scr...

Thank you, that's cool

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

#267

Post by towaway1138 »

burtonator wrote: post #64
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…

Link to your resume and I'll take a look. All this bullshit about inclusivity. What we SHOULD be doing is blinding the candidate and interviewer. No name. Just the last 2 years of job history. That's it. You don't know their gender. Don't know their age. Don't know their race. Just complete meritocracy.

Thank you--I appreciate it. I should have clarified that I did eventually get a job. Pay's quite low, but it's otherwise fine. And all things considered, I'm loathe to attempt another job hunt any time soon.

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

#268

Post by towaway1138 »

csa wrote: post #40
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…

Check out jobs with the federal government and/or with government contractors. The work might not be as sexy or as lucrative (although sometimes it is), but the pay is stable (lolol... shutdowns notwithstanding) at a middle-class level. The government is desperate for people who can code.

I did end up getting an offer at something like this. Low pay, worthy and mostly interesting work. So no real complaints.

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

#269

Post by towaway1138 »

i_am_nomad wrote: post #261
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…

Many great men and women didn’t embark upon their greatness until their fifties. And quite frankly, if you are leading a life of dignity, principles, and continual learning, you are living up to the true potential of what humans are meant to be (yet so few humans attain). Your life will be a victory whether you’re flipping burgers, houses or companies.

Yes. One good thing about getting older is having better perspective on stuff like this.

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

#270

Post by towaway1138 »

scarface74 wrote: post #62
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…

So did you try finding a job just in Silicon Valley on the West Coast at a FANG or did you expand your search? It’s hard to believe as hungry as people are for developers that no one in the entire US including remote work, contracting, or consulting would hire you assuming you had marketable skills. I’m in my mid 40s, was just looking for a job last year and it took me two weeks and from the time I started looking un…

Searched in four or five major cities. (Not SV, which is financially untenable for me.)

I'm sure there are numerically plenty of places that would hire me, but finding them is pretty arduous, esp since many of my declines were after all-day travel interviews to the opposite coast.

It's a big change from the past, when jobs would invariably just fall in my lap.

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