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It is also easy to forget that more and more people are becoming programmers each year. The necessary result of this is that when you look at the average tech
by cellularmitosis 10y ago
It is also easy to forget that more and more people are becoming programmers each year. The necessary result of this is that when you look at the average tech company, there will be fewer older programmers.
"Uncle" Bob Martin once gave a talk where he asked for a show of hands of "How many of you have been programming for 5 years? 10 years? 15? 20?". The results in his audience roughly correlated to his thesis, that the number of programmers has roughly doubled every 5 years since programming was a thing.
Are there fewer older programmers at a given company because of ageism? I'm sure that's part of it. But don't forget that there are far, far fewer programmers with 20 years of experience than with 5 years of experience.
- BatFastard 10y agoAnd if you got the choice of hiring someone with 5 year experience or 20, which would you choose?
- TheOtherHobbes 10y agoIt would depend on the kind of experience and the quality of insight. Time served doesn't correlate to quality. Programming is actually a very permissive industry. There are corporate environments in which you can be barely competent and still keep your job - if not gain promotions.
- AnimalMuppet 10y agoDepends on whether they cost the same. If the experience costs more, does it bring enough value to the position I'm hiring for to be worth the cost? That's the key to getting a job with 20 years of experience. You need to be able to convince the hiring manager that you're worth the extra money in that job. (And then the hiring manager needs people above him that will let him spend the extra money.)