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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

#201

Post by shambolicfroli »

cottsak wrote: post #96

If you're listening David, here are my suggestions. Keep in mind I don't have nearly the wealth of experience you would obviously have. * Refresh both http://www.avidaid.ca/ your websites with a modern feel http://www.avidaidmedia.ca/ Hire a designer for a fixed price on https://www.upwork.com/ or other freelancer site. Your potential employers will look you up and they don't want to find dated visuals like these. If…

Run the text on your site through grammarly.com, I'm seeing a typo at the end of the 1st sentence. And I agree with cottsak that the use of "we" doesn't help. Here's a thought, how about reaching out to @AustinAllred of @LambdaSchool (on twitter) to see if they want to try taking on the more grizzled set? (do they pay living expenses?) Alternatively, there's trucking. Big shortage for now, and reasonably high pay.

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

#202

Post by zorpner »

burtonator wrote: post #111
snotrockets wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It won't be, because different groups answer questions differently. One famous result ( http://web.pdx.edu/~mev/pdf/PS471_Readings_2012/Lizotte_Sidm... ) is that woman hold themselves to a higher threshold of certainty before claiming to know something. An interesting solution would be to score differently based on known biases; but that would be a can of worms in itself. Meritocracy is a lie used by the privileged.…

> Meritocracy is a lie used by the privileged. There is no such thing in the real world. That's absolutely untrue.. you really discredit yourself when you say provably false things like this.

...you really discredit yourself when you say provably false things like this.

Likewise. And look, I've offered just as much proof as you did.

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

#205

Post by hpcjoe »

djhaskin987 wrote: post #101

My father started feeling this in his 50's, then he got his master's degree and his callback rate increased significantly. Now he's in his 60's he's getting a PhD so he'll be marketable as an old guy, even if that is just as an adjunct professor.

FWIW, the adjunct role is very low pay, for quite a bit of work. They pay you for contact hours. 2 lectures per week is 2-4 contact hours. They don't pay you for time grading, traveling, answering questions/office hours, etc.

I've looked at doing that (PhD and over 50) to augment my own income, but the time commitment is huge, compared to the compensation.

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

#206

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

ericb wrote: post #183
snotrockets wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It won't be, because different groups answer questions differently. One famous result ( http://web.pdx.edu/~mev/pdf/PS471_Readings_2012/Lizotte_Sidm... ) is that woman hold themselves to a higher threshold of certainty before claiming to know something. An interesting solution would be to score differently based on known biases; but that would be a can of worms in itself. Meritocracy is a lie used by the privileged.…

> Meritocracy is a lie used by the privileged. I don't understand this point of view. It sounds like, by calling it a lie, your real complaint is the ways attempts at meritocracy have fallen short of being an actual meritocracy. That being the case, isn't meritocracy still the correct ideal that we should be doing a better job of striving for? If this is not how you feel, what is the word for the appropriate assignme…

> That being the case, isn't meritocracy still the correct ideal that we should be doing a better job of striving for?

I would actually say no, at least when it comes to when arguments for a meritocracy are used as arguments against redistribution of wealth from the more "meritocratic" to the less.

Consider, as a thought experiment, if instead of features like intelligence, communication skills, self-confidence, etc., that our economic system instead only valued basketball skills as the means for distributing wealth. That system would be a meritocracy: great basketball players with tons of talent and effort would be really wealthy and successful, while talentless or lazy basketball players would be poor.

I think this is a good thought experiment because of some of the things it highlights. Perhaps most importantly, all short people are pretty much destined to be forever poor in this meritocratic system. If you are short, what value would you see in abiding by this system at all if tall, great basketball players took all the gains? What about if instead great basketball players could be wealthy and successful, but they still had to pay a very large amount of taxes to ensure that short people didn't starve (or revolt).

While a (true) meritocracy may be ideal for how jobs are to be distributed, if it is also how wealth is distributed it means that it is also, by and large, a lottery of DNA. How is that any more "fair" than an aristocracy?

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

#207

Post by hpcjoe »

john_moscow wrote: post #192

Disclaimer: I don't approve ageism in tech, I'm merely trying to explain the reasoning of the other side of the negotiation table. The unspoken truth about the job market is that the older you get, the more you should rely on your network when finding jobs. Simply maintain professional contact with 5-20 people that worked with you, know that you can deliver and would recommend you (citing the projects you successfull…

This. On the network. This.

For you young whippersnappers (say up to 35), get out, talk to people. Get known. Go to conferences. Establish a reputation.

For you older folks (36+), you might not believe you have a network, but LinkedIn is, despite being crappy in a number of ways, a reasonably good tool for growing your network, connecting with people, and so on. I am not talking about its "jobs" features. I am talking about reaching out and connecting with good people you know, who happen to be networked to someone you might like to meet.

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

#208

Post by eecsninja »

monocasa wrote: post #81
4thaccount wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously? Like how hard is it to go from C++ prior to 2012 or whatever to 2017? Would it take you a couple of months to get up to speed on the features in 2014 & 2017 that they're actually using? I can understand giving you a bit less credit than someone with up to date experience, but zero? It makes me so glad I'm not a developer.

C++11 and up is legitimately very very different from C++03 and below.

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

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

#209

Post by bfdm »

Justsignedup wrote: post #70
perryh2 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In today's world of agile development, I haven't met any project managers worthy of anything. I feel that strong product managers are capable of managing development as well. I can't believe there are actual people getting paid to move JIRA tickets around full-time.

Good project management is invisible. They just make projects happen. They make sure everyone is talking. They make sure decisions are made. Everyone knows what to do when to do it. Etc. I seen good project management. It is magical. Then the manager left. Everything slowed down to a crawl.

Yep, it's the thankless job that when done well nobody notices.

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

#210

Post by eecsninja »

jswizzy wrote: post #120

I have had to work with plenty of older programmers and it's always a bad experience. The boomer generation are not team players and they will use office politics to sabotage anyone who they perceive as threat to them. I have to deal a guy now who complains about ageism all day and talks about how experience he is and how he did x great thing but I have to explain simple programming concepts to the guy and agrees and…

Sounds like working with bad programmers.

I worked with a lot of younger programmers who were lazy and less diligent than I expected from others at the same FAANG company. Bad experience too.

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