It probably depends on the country. It can be a problem in Europe with large public sector, and less of a problem in USA (since companies care about results).
Ask HN: What Happens to Older Designers?
11–20 of 68 posts
Re: Ask HN: What Happens to Older Designers?
#12Good designers design irrespective of age. I mean an older designer should have a rolladex full of people who they worked below, beside, and above over the course of their career to break out when they are looking for something interesting to do. A career is an ecosystem that grows or atrophies based on the careers that surround it. The most important connection to the rest of the ecosystem is will-they-go-out-of-the…
This is untrue for the simple reason that your friends’ employers wouldn’t allow it. Hiring practices based on personal references opens the door to discrimination lawsuits, so every HR department creates objective interview processes that remove such advantages.
Spoken like a true optimist.
Re: Ask HN: What Happens to Older Designers?
#13Good designers design irrespective of age. I mean an older designer should have a rolladex full of people who they worked below, beside, and above over the course of their career to break out when they are looking for something interesting to do. A career is an ecosystem that grows or atrophies based on the careers that surround it. The most important connection to the rest of the ecosystem is will-they-go-out-of-the…
This is untrue for the simple reason that your friends’ employers wouldn’t allow it. Hiring practices based on personal references opens the door to discrimination lawsuits, so every HR department creates objective interview processes that remove such advantages.
I disagree strongly. Personal referrals are one of the most effective ways to get a job, and also one of the most effective ways to increase hiring quality. At the very least a personal reference will fast track you into an interview stage ahead of most other cold applications.
Re: Ask HN: What Happens to Older Designers?
#14I feel everyone had an opinion on this thread, but i’d be more interested in hearing a first hand experience with being older and a designer.
Re: Ask HN: What Happens to Older Designers?
#15Good designers design irrespective of age. I mean an older designer should have a rolladex full of people who they worked below, beside, and above over the course of their career to break out when they are looking for something interesting to do. A career is an ecosystem that grows or atrophies based on the careers that surround it. The most important connection to the rest of the ecosystem is will-they-go-out-of-the…
This is untrue for the simple reason that your friends’ employers wouldn’t allow it. Hiring practices based on personal references opens the door to discrimination lawsuits, so every HR department creates objective interview processes that remove such advantages.
I don't think not-your-friend counts as a protected class quite yet. But considering how outraged people get when they interview for a job but the offer goes to someone's buddy, maybe it will be outlawed sooner or later.
Re: Ask HN: What Happens to Older Designers?
#16[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: What Happens to Older Designers?
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
> an older designer should have a rolladex full of people who they worked below, beside, and above over the course of their career As a non-traditional professional in a lot of ways, I've found these kinds of assumptions at the core of a lot of discrimination (age and otherwise). A person should be judged based on their skills/value, not based on where someone thinks they "should" be in their life based on stereotype…
I don’t expect an older designer to have that Rolodex because I am an older designer and don’t have one. I just understand that that is a problem that wishing the world was fair in ways that benefited me won’t solve. If the OP doesn’t have the Rolodex of people who would work with them again - like me - then it is a problem. Or possibly a symptom of a deeper issue of why people don’t want to work with them. Or possib…
You're going in a tangential direction. GP wasn't complaining about an unfairness, but explaining that an attitude was harmful. You misinterpreted them and then came to an ageist conclusion based on that misunderstanding, really making their case for them.
Re: Ask HN: What Happens to Older Designers?
#18It depends what you compare it against. Software development changes all the time, developers constantly have to upskill. Trends drive demand and NIH runs strong in the industry. There is nothing we're doing today that couldn't be done with Java for example. Design on the other hand is interfacing with humans. Humans are meat sacks who hardly evolve or change, in fact, you might argue, they regress. For this reason,…
> There is nothing we're doing today that couldn't be done with Java for example.
Wow. Strongly disagree.
Re: Ask HN: What Happens to Older Designers?
#19What “design” are you referencing?
Re: Ask HN: What Happens to Older Designers?
#20Good designers design irrespective of age. I mean an older designer should have a rolladex full of people who they worked below, beside, and above over the course of their career to break out when they are looking for something interesting to do. A career is an ecosystem that grows or atrophies based on the careers that surround it. The most important connection to the rest of the ecosystem is will-they-go-out-of-the…
This is untrue for the simple reason that your friends’ employers wouldn’t allow it. Hiring practices based on personal references opens the door to discrimination lawsuits, so every HR department creates objective interview processes that remove such advantages.
Can you cite a lawsuit over discrimination when someone referred the candidate and that's the aspect in contention?