21–30 of 261 posts
Isn't this partly because SV is most interested in developing social apps for hip teenagers? It's probably difficult for a 40 something year old to know how to design an application for this crowd.
I'm 37, and honestly this has started to scare me over the past couple years.
My first thought: narcissism . Narcissists hate being around older people because it reminds them that, some day, they'll be old and unable to do the sorts of things that narcissists tend to do on the weekend. I don't think that all founders are narcissists, but if you want to be able to hire narcissists (which 75% of execs are, let's be honest) then ageism becomes practical, sadly. Then again, I think some of it is…
I'm 37, and honestly this has started to scare me over the past couple years.
I've had someone in a YC funded company flat-out tell me that it was going to be a problem for me. (43, and no, he wasn't in the process of hiring me.)
That was five years ago, so I can only assume that now I'm completely useless for anything beyond gumming food into a paste-like consistency.
Dirty yes, secret no. Straight talk: I'm the CTO at a startup and I often have to call out the founders and employees for ageism. I resent that they say things that make me think they wouldn't take hiring an experienced engineer seriously. I resent that they think my profession is best served by dumb happy newbies with no private life. I refuse to tolerate this in any company I work for and I will ceaselessly call th…
Youth might fuel the launch of your product, but experience will help it keep flying.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually, no, not as much. That's the point of the article. Age bias is cited significantly more frequently in California. That's why the article is news. The first 1/3 of the article provides a few paragraphs worth of hard numbers and statistics.
California != Silicon Valley, though. It also includes the LA area, for example.
This phenomenon is not a secret, nor is it obscure.
Two points: 1. There's a big difference between job-searching at 40 and job-searching at 60. At 60, you're potentially 5 years away from retirement, so it's not surprising that companies are hesitant to hire. 2. Depending on the specific startup, younger people really may be more effective, at least in certain areas. For example, something like Facebook (during its early days), which targeted college students. A twen…
Dirty yes, secret no. Straight talk: I'm the CTO at a startup and I often have to call out the founders and employees for ageism. I resent that they say things that make me think they wouldn't take hiring an experienced engineer seriously. I resent that they think my profession is best served by dumb happy newbies with no private life. I refuse to tolerate this in any company I work for and I will ceaselessly call th…
I'm in my 40s now, and the number of times I've been brought into a startup suffering under the plague of 20-something founder's grandiose ideas of how things should be done vs. the nearly 20 years of real world experience that says otherwise would surprise you. Youth might fuel the launch of your product, but experience will help it keep flying.
I can only imagine what 20 years will do for me. That's why I actively seek out more experience in candidates because I believe it'll make them more competent and sharp at what they do.
Somebody with battle-scars is something a startup could really use. Most of my pre-startup experience is as a contractor/consultant.
I've had someone in a YC funded company flat-out tell me that it was going to be a problem for me. (43, and no, he wasn't in the process of hiring me.)