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> Then there is the issue that after 40 you can't get hired unless your connected, Well that's not been my experience on the east coast. Most developers are ov
by dismantlethesun 10y ago
> Then there is the issue that after 40 you can't get hired unless your connected,
Well that's not been my experience on the east coast. Most developers are over 35 in certain companies: finance, defence, high-status non-profits.
Sure, there's a clusters of 20 year olds without degrees slaving away in the same vertical, but they're not in the same companies.
I think for a young person, its harder to get a job unless you have a 'hot' skill because hot skills are typically in new strategies and technologies where the hiring pool is shallow.
For an older person, your experience means that you can get a job in even a 'dead' skill. Some people work using Java 1.2, some people work using Django/Rails instead of SPA Javascript. Some people get hired solely for their ability to write competent Fortran.
I don't think you need to be well connected to have these jobs. Most of those I know who got hired into them it was due to a recruiter, and not a personal invite.
- work4beer 10y agoWell the first rule in developing is 'lifestyle', I agree with you 100% that if you willing to work in a shit-hole be that east-coast or houston, or any shit-hole in USA, sure there will be a job, But if you want to live in a nice place, say San Franciso, and make enough to own a house and eat out every night, then its not what you know, but who you blow. I agree with you, but say your FORTRAN programmer, chances are he's been doing the same thing for 30+ years, and he miserable and unhappy, sure he's got a job, but does he have a life? NO Take a few years off, then go back, and see how hard it is to find a job, most employers only hire people who stay employed, The jobs your describing are the dreg jobs of the IT industry, I think some ugly disease would be preferable to working in a fortune 500 company post mid-life, unless of course your the CEO/COO/CFO It's always been this way, if your willing to live in a shitty place, there's always a job, the problem is getting a job in the good places, and a good job. Yes, there is always defense, you can always get a job with the GOVernment, now there is a hell on earth. I agree with you about the kids, I know its hard for most kids today to get in the door, mostly cuz they have no work schools, and only the very lucky get hired at graduation, again its who you know In summary my sale is on being your own boss, and not ending up when you 50+ years old being somebody wage slave coding cobol, In Dearborn Michigan.
- dismantlethesun 10y ago> Well the first rule in developing is 'lifestyle', I agree with you 100% that if you willing to work in a shit-hole be that east-coast or houston, or any shit-hole in USA, sure there will be a job Did you just call an entire continental coastline a 'shit hole'? An entire coastline of 112.6 million people, dozens of cities and weather ranging from cold-temperate to near-tropical? Well, I must say I'm surprised. I knew people liked San Fran, but I never thought I'd meet someone who loved the place so much to the point their rose coloured goggles lead them to denigrate 1/3rd of the US population.
- vonmoltke 10y ago> near-tropical? Nitpick: South Florida is a legit tropical climate zone. Otherwise, yeah, that post rustled my East Coast jimmies.
- yc2cult 10y agoIf you don't know that the eastern seaboard of the USA is a sinkhole of humanity, and a polluted hell, then its because you have not been any where else. In SF they call LA the armpit. West coast we call the east coast the arm-pit of america, What's new here? nada, the issue is the truth cannot be told in SJW forum that is yc/hn. Anybody that takes a job near DC in defense is a loser.
- sctb 10y agoWe ask that you please comment civilly and substantively on Hacker News or not at all.