Ageism Haunts Some Tech Workers in the Race to Get Hired

Post by joquarky » Thu, Mar 14, 2024, 3:32 AM UTC

danielmarkbruce wrote: post #91

swatcoder wrote: post #40

When I was coming up a long while back, there were exciting employers that filled their ranks with ambitious recent grads and lavished them with ping pong tables and soda fountains in the "war room" full of knock-off Aeron chairs and various configurations of conference tables. We'd work crazy hours and move fast with tools we didn't really understand. Most of us would get laid off multiple times as the companies we…

aka, seemingly boring enterprise software is the place to go. Some of them are actually very good places.

Post by wakawaka28 » Thu, Mar 14, 2024, 3:48 AM UTC

jghn wrote: post #90

imbusy111 wrote: post #29

I did feel a disadvantage myself when I was job searching a few months ago, but for me it was my personal attitude coming through more than anyone judging me by my age. I felt that I just cannot get excited anymore about some of the bullshit the company leadership is throwing around, and neither could I overlook the massive mistakes the companies are making based on my own interview questions. But I do understand tha…

I say this as a greybeard myself, but as someone who been on the interviewer/hiring manager side of quite a few interviews with older candidates, it's a lot more common than they realize that they're just *bad*. Yes, there are many good ones, and yes the wisdom they have is a huge benefit. But plenty of them think this applies to them when it does not. The most common issue is they've long since let themselves go tec…

Post by nvy » Thu, Mar 14, 2024, 4:00 AM UTC

slibhb wrote: post #11

nvy wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any reputable research that shows people produce better-quality work in their 20s vs say, their 40s or 50s?

Virtually every genius is most productive before 40, usually before 30. Counterexamples exist but are rare.

Post by sharts » Thu, Mar 14, 2024, 4:52 AM UTC

jghn wrote: post #90

imbusy111 wrote: post #29

I did feel a disadvantage myself when I was job searching a few months ago, but for me it was my personal attitude coming through more than anyone judging me by my age. I felt that I just cannot get excited anymore about some of the bullshit the company leadership is throwing around, and neither could I overlook the massive mistakes the companies are making based on my own interview questions. But I do understand tha…

I say this as a greybeard myself, but as someone who been on the interviewer/hiring manager side of quite a few interviews with older candidates, it's a lot more common than they realize that they're just *bad*. Yes, there are many good ones, and yes the wisdom they have is a huge benefit. But plenty of them think this applies to them when it does not. The most common issue is they've long since let themselves go tec…

Post by pengaru » Thu, Mar 14, 2024, 5:37 AM UTC

paxys wrote: post #27

The article calls it an "open secret" in the industry, but it isn't even much of a secret. Most companies have explicit "manage up or manage out" policies for engineers, which means that if you have been at a certain level for too many years you get fired and replaced by someone younger. They say you need to work hard and get promoted to senior staff/principal/director/VP, but then the promo budget says only 2 people…