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Age Discrimination at Work

nytimes.com

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Re: Age Discrimination at Work

#61

Post by commandlinefan »

rfrey wrote: post #52
bilbo0s wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My take is a bit different, and it may explain the phenomenon you've noticed on HN. TLDR; I believe a lot of people mistake price discrimination as age discrimination. Long version: Let's say you need some code monkey to slap together go or rust services. Well, sure, you get a lot of people applying with 25 years experience, you also get a lot of people applying with 5 years experience. Now here's the rub, it's highl…

Isn’t that solved by specifying “junior developer” or “intermediate developer”? Or by including the salary range?

It should be - but I’m positive that everybody with over 10 years experience is calling themselves a “senior developer” by now. There’s no level after that, so most everybody over 35 is a senior developer.

Re: Age Discrimination at Work

#62

Post by kungito »

fiblye wrote: post #3

I was applying to a job with a large game studio. The interview was going pretty well, I'd thought. We talked a bit about how we'd implement certain gameplay elements, the content of the projects we've worked on, and overall it just seemed good and we all seemed to get along pretty well. Then they asked me how old I was. Their response to my age was, "Oh... maybe it's a little late then. You're not too old, but... ki…

Were you applying for a junior position? Not saying you were not worth hiring, just that they didn't see it. To me it sounds more like they needed an excuse not to hire you. People here are complaining about being discriminated at age 40 or 50 and I don't see a point in introducing an angle that people are discriminated for being too old at age 26.

Re: Age Discrimination at Work

#63

Post by michalu »

eropple wrote: post #37
michalu wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but aren't the "fucked retirement/pension systems" a legacy of their generation?

A legacy of people in their generation with power , yes. You realize there's no moustache-twirling Boomer Conspiracy Society out there, yeah? And that some random working schlub wouldn't be invited if there was?

I have no idea what you are talking about. You elect those in power? They are your representatives. Your government is your responsibility, that's how democracy works right?

Re: Age Discrimination at Work

#64

Post by Spooky23 »

bilbo0s wrote: post #42
resoluteteeth wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whenever topics like this come up on HN, there are always tons of people in their 30s and 40s posting comments like this, which boil down to something like: "I'm not old enough to experience age discrimination yet, and I'm scared but I'm going to keep up with the latest languages/frameworks so I will be special and not be discriminated against like all the other developers, who allowed their skills to deteriorate whe…

My take is a bit different, and it may explain the phenomenon you've noticed on HN. TLDR; I believe a lot of people mistake price discrimination as age discrimination. Long version: Let's say you need some code monkey to slap together go or rust services. Well, sure, you get a lot of people applying with 25 years experience, you also get a lot of people applying with 5 years experience. Now here's the rub, it's highl…

I hired a guy with a masters in EE who is crazy smart as a help desk tech. He’s since moved up.

Our job was his first interview in a year.

Re: Age Discrimination at Work

#65

Post by gbacon »

rfrey wrote: post #52
bilbo0s wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My take is a bit different, and it may explain the phenomenon you've noticed on HN. TLDR; I believe a lot of people mistake price discrimination as age discrimination. Long version: Let's say you need some code monkey to slap together go or rust services. Well, sure, you get a lot of people applying with 25 years experience, you also get a lot of people applying with 5 years experience. Now here's the rub, it's highl…

Isn’t that solved by specifying “junior developer” or “intermediate developer”? Or by including the salary range?

Will that expose the company to accusations of age discrimination? They aren’t even interested in applications from developers with more than ten years of experience!

Re: Age Discrimination at Work

#66

Post by bartwe »

peteradio wrote: post #48
fiblye wrote: post #3

I was applying to a job with a large game studio. The interview was going pretty well, I'd thought. We talked a bit about how we'd implement certain gameplay elements, the content of the projects we've worked on, and overall it just seemed good and we all seemed to get along pretty well. Then they asked me how old I was. Their response to my age was, "Oh... maybe it's a little late then. You're not too old, but... ki…

I have a very hard time believing this happened. 26?

As someone in games. I believe it.

Re: Age Discrimination at Work

#67

Post by michalu »

bluecalm wrote: post #56
cameronbrown wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> people who can barely code a sorting algorithm are hired for jobs with 6 figure salaries I ask, where does this happen? I'd love to apply to this easy money.

Wallstreet big banks. My sister was working for some of those and participated in hiring process. They had trouble finding anyone competent (she told me anyone who could code a simple sorting algorithm task got a resounding acceptance from the interviewers as that was very rare. Most people showing up for the interviews couldn't code at all). The work is psychologically draining because tech people are 2nd class citi…

That's a nice anecdote. So you apply this on all US?

Re: Age Discrimination at Work

#68

Post by hobabaObama »

factorialboy wrote: post #5

Allow me to provide a contrarian view. I'm not disagreeing that age-discrimination does not exist, however I must say it's not always the case. I'm 35, so I wouldn't qualify as young but neither old. Businesses tend to recruit younger devs for few reasons: - They can be easily convinced to work longer hours - They are typically paid much less However there is one trait in older devs that make them undesirable: - They…

> - They tend to carry baggage from the past.

I work in a team which is oldboy's club. I tried various new ways and technologies to make everyone's life easier. But they always shoot down saying "it is running fine". The software is so old and tweaked number of times. I am surprised we have a functional software despite having so many obvious flaws.

Re: Age Discrimination at Work

#69

Post by nearmuse »

That is not good advice at all. All it says is "it is up to you old people to put all the effort you can muster at competing with the young". Not everyone gets to look immaculate in their 60s, not everyone gets to occupy a "(prominent) wise elder" position in life by that age either. Just as well, fitting in with fleeting trends is not something people should have to prioritize to be considered productive. What about people who were not so lucky and have health problems or very limiting responsibilities?

I am under 30 by the way, but I am afraid of some grotesque Logan's run scenario where I will lose control over my life just because of age.

Re: Age Discrimination at Work

#70

Post by acdha »

factorialboy wrote: post #5

Allow me to provide a contrarian view. I'm not disagreeing that age-discrimination does not exist, however I must say it's not always the case. I'm 35, so I wouldn't qualify as young but neither old. Businesses tend to recruit younger devs for few reasons: - They can be easily convinced to work longer hours - They are typically paid much less However there is one trait in older devs that make them undesirable: - They…

That stereotyping is textbook ageism. It’s also incorrectly assuming that younger developers don’t have biases — we should rewrite everything in …! is a joke for a reason — all people do and a key life skill is learning to recognize and correct for them.
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