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It’s Tough Being Over 40 in Silicon Valley

bloomberg.com

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Re: It’s Tough Being Over 40 in Silicon Valley

#71

Post by 0xdeadbeefbabe »

6stringmerc wrote: post #4

"I had it good and now I don't have it good and I don't know what to do about it" is a fairly formulaic structure for a human interest story, and while I really loathe human suffering, it's also hard for me to sympathise with the subjects in stories such as this one. > “If you’ve worked at a large company for 10 years and get laid off, chances are your skills are six generations behind,” says Jonathan Nelson, chief e…

I feel sorry to hear people think they are victims, but I'm getting older, so maybe I'm wrong, lying, or just can't remember an important issue?

Re: It’s Tough Being Over 40 in Silicon Valley

#72

Post by gtrubetskoy »

My observation (as someone over 40) is that some of us who started early on in the trade decided to throw in the towel and declared themselves "management", and (most importantly) stopped being hands-on. And it's these people who are most at risk of ending up behind. Those of us who kept on programming, networking, never quit learning and stayed current with all the latest stuff are actually extremely sought after and valuable - experience is hugely important, critical, even, especially where scale and reliability matter.

Re: It’s Tough Being Over 40 in Silicon Valley

#73

Post by oxryly1 »

v1vek wrote: post #61
oxryly1 wrote: post #46

Is this perhaps because older workers gravitate towards sane hours? Maybe because they develop interests, lives, families, etc outside of work that they commit to (moreso than most 20-somethings)? As a side note: I'm over 40 now, but I do recall being 27 and interviewing someone in their early 40s who was qualified and enthusiastic. I passed on them in part because I felt guilty hiring them; to work on my team the pe…

Understandable, but this is the bias does end up causing unintended age discrimination.

Yup. That's why I tell the story. Now when I seek a job I face myself discriminating against me. It sucks, but at least I understand a little of why it happens, I guess.

Re: It’s Tough Being Over 40 in Silicon Valley

#74

Post by jraines »

6dqh5yapl3 wrote: post #20

I'm 24. Guess I should buy a shitty condo in Hayward with a 15 year mortgage so I'm paid off when the age discrimination kicks in. 40+ year old engineers with prop 13 equity or rent control - I'm jealous.

Hayward's not so bad at all :)

Get the quake insurance though.

I still wince when I see what the cost of a Hayward condo would buy back in Georgia.

Re: It’s Tough Being Over 40 in Silicon Valley

#75

Post by spoonie »

angryasian wrote: post #52
new_hackers wrote: post #40

Skills pay the bills. Many of the over-40 crowd I've worked with just plain don't want to learn anything new. They have settled, and are passive in their learning. This is the #1 reason they won't be relevant.

This is the exact attitude that makes tech a shit sector to be in. Its not that people don't want learn anything, its that when you're 40 a lot more time is invested in things outside of work. Kids, wife, house, etc. When you're 20, nomadic, are by yourself, and have a ton of free time.. yes finding time to learn is easy.

Expectations just need to be set accordingly. Either the employer factors in "learning" time for employees to stay up to date as they start new projects, or the employee is told they need to spend some amount of their own time on training.

Re: It’s Tough Being Over 40 in Silicon Valley

#76

Post by oxryly1 »

throw_away_777 wrote: post #58
oxryly1 wrote: post #46

Is this perhaps because older workers gravitate towards sane hours? Maybe because they develop interests, lives, families, etc outside of work that they commit to (moreso than most 20-somethings)? As a side note: I'm over 40 now, but I do recall being 27 and interviewing someone in their early 40s who was qualified and enthusiastic. I passed on them in part because I felt guilty hiring them; to work on my team the pe…

What you did was definitely illegal and immoral. It is not your decision to make on how someone should live their life.

Probably, but I was in over my head and the team evaporated within months. With hindsight I would have done many things differently, and my approach to interviewing that person is just one of many.

Re: It’s Tough Being Over 40 in Silicon Valley

#77

Post by albertop »

oldmanjay wrote: post #5

I'm over 40 and I've been continuing to get more work than I can handle by staying up to date on my tech skills. Maybe that professional headshot I never got would help, though.

So when you talk about women in computing industry, you advice them to get a good professional headshot?

Re: It’s Tough Being Over 40 in Silicon Valley

#78

Post by zxcvvcxz »

angryasian wrote: post #52
new_hackers wrote: post #40

Skills pay the bills. Many of the over-40 crowd I've worked with just plain don't want to learn anything new. They have settled, and are passive in their learning. This is the #1 reason they won't be relevant.

This is the exact attitude that makes tech a shit sector to be in. Its not that people don't want learn anything, its that when you're 40 a lot more time is invested in things outside of work. Kids, wife, house, etc. When you're 20, nomadic, are by yourself, and have a ton of free time.. yes finding time to learn is easy.

What is your point. The job market is not meant to cater to people's specific changes in work/life preferences.

This is almost analogous to complaining about construction being ageist against older people who don't keep in shape. Yeah guess what, you need to in order to do the work.

Re: It’s Tough Being Over 40 in Silicon Valley

#79

Post by kragen »

"Michael Peredo, a 55-year-old auto engineer dismissed from Mercedes-Benz in February 2015, says he had trouble giving up his bow ties for T-shirts, as some he met at ProMatch suggested. ‘I feel like myself wearing them,’ he says."

Yeah, you're going to have a really hard time getting a programming job in Silicon Valley if you show up in looking like a security guard in a tie, let alone looking like a waiter in a bowtie. It's the same story as showing up for an interview for an enterprise sales job in ripped jeans and a T-shirt — it undermines your credibility. It shouldn't — our meritocratic hacker values place no value on surface appearances, and we fail them when we are influenced by what people are wearing or their gender or skin color or age — but it absolutely does. Raymond Chen can get away with wearing a suit and tie all the time, but you probably can't.

The good news is that Peredo got a job immediately when he stopped wearing the bowtie to interviews. It's not gonna be as easy if you're black.

Re: It’s Tough Being Over 40 in Silicon Valley

#80

Post by Multiplayer »

api wrote: post #56
oxryly1 wrote: post #46

Is this perhaps because older workers gravitate towards sane hours? Maybe because they develop interests, lives, families, etc outside of work that they commit to (moreso than most 20-somethings)? As a side note: I'm over 40 now, but I do recall being 27 and interviewing someone in their early 40s who was qualified and enthusiastic. I passed on them in part because I felt guilty hiring them; to work on my team the pe…

Older workers are also more savvy. They understand things like the fact that if you're working 80 hours a week for $120k you are actually making $60k.

You're actually making 180k equivalent because you don't have time to spend the money.
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