3 ms·

Work for a big/established/old company, where your experience will not count against you. I'm 30, and at my office everyone calls me 'kid'.

callinyouin 10y ago
> I'm 30, and at my office everyone calls me 'kid'. Hey, same here. Well, nobody actually calls me that but I'm the youngest at 30 on my team, working for a company that has a pretty large percentage of employees that have been here for 20, even 30+ years. I can't remember the exact number but I want to say that something like 40% have been here for 10+ years. We're a medium size manufacturing company, so that's a lot of people. It really is in stark contrast to what you tend to hear about the bay area.
- amyjess 10y ago
  I once worked at a very small defense contractor. The company was about 12 people plus the owner. I joined when I was 30, and I was the third-youngest employee. The second-youngest was born in the same month of the same year as me, and I never got to really interact with the youngest. Everyone else was in their 30s to 50s. Unfortunately, I (along with a third of the company) got laid off a year and a quarter in, but working there was an interesting experience. I had so many interesting conversations with my coworkers. And the owner of that company is a university professor (full professor, not an associate) with two PhDs and a very impressive academic background.
Tactic 10y ago
I can second this. I have started my own company (twice), worked for start ups, mid size companies and now large companies. I turned 50 this year and can tell you larger companies are where it is at as you age. It's forty hours a week with great benefits and mostly static responsibilities. They value your experience and have no issue with the fact that they are just a job. If there is a new skill I need they are happy to pay me to learn it. You don't work on the new and exciting stuff but as you get older you will find exciting is more tiring than it used to be.
randcraw 10y ago
I completely agree, with one caveat. Even while you're older than average at such companies, make sure you're current with hot trends and tech. Better yet, get on those teams in the company (R&D?) that are exploring those cutting edge techniques, ideally, to serve mainstream business needs that won't go away. A good example right now is machine learning or data mining. When working for a Fortune 100 company, it's easy to do the same thing with the same tools for years. Then one day you awaken to find your skill area there is in decline and devalued. If your skills (and personality) are not already seen as a hot commodity within the company, then when you leave, you definitely won't be prized by other companies either. If you're also older than average, that's a bad combo. So don't let yourself fall behind technically, and try to stay toward the forefront of your skill area. But I recommend you don't get too far ahead of the curve and jump blithely into a high-risk/high-reward role, since blue chip companies are often slow to adopt novelty and do so clumsily, which often leads to false starts and poor rates of success in new ventures. BTW, I'm almost 60. Nobody calls me kid any more. :-/
- softawre 10y ago
  Hi, almost 60. I hope I can ask this in a kind way. What about retirement? Are you that excited with your work that you don't want to retire? Or were there personal issues? Ugh.. not super kind. Hope you don't take it the wrong way, but it is super interesting to somebody who is mid-career like myself and interested in retirement (whether that means gaming all day or just working on stuff that is "actually" fun.)

callinyouin 10y ago

> I'm 30, and at my office everyone calls me 'kid'. Hey, same here. Well, nobody actually calls me that but I'm the youngest at 30 on my team, working for a company that has a pretty large percentage of employees that have been here for 20, even 30+ years. I can't remember the exact number but I want to say that something like 40% have been here for 10+ years. We're a medium size manufacturing company, so that's a lot of people. It really is in stark contrast to what you tend to hear about the bay area.

amyjess 10y ago
I once worked at a very small defense contractor. The company was about 12 people plus the owner. I joined when I was 30, and I was the third-youngest employee. The second-youngest was born in the same month of the same year as me, and I never got to really interact with the youngest. Everyone else was in their 30s to 50s. Unfortunately, I (along with a third of the company) got laid off a year and a quarter in, but working there was an interesting experience. I had so many interesting conversations with my coworkers. And the owner of that company is a university professor (full professor, not an associate) with two PhDs and a very impressive academic background.

Tactic 10y ago

I can second this. I have started my own company (twice), worked for start ups, mid size companies and now large companies. I turned 50 this year and can tell you larger companies are where it is at as you age. It's forty hours a week with great benefits and mostly static responsibilities. They value your experience and have no issue with the fact that they are just a job. If there is a new skill I need they are happy to pay me to learn it. You don't work on the new and exciting stuff but as you get older you will find exciting is more tiring than it used to be.

randcraw 10y ago

I completely agree, with one caveat. Even while you're older than average at such companies, make sure you're current with hot trends and tech. Better yet, get on those teams in the company (R&D?) that are exploring those cutting edge techniques, ideally, to serve mainstream business needs that won't go away. A good example right now is machine learning or data mining. When working for a Fortune 100 company, it's easy to do the same thing with the same tools for years. Then one day you awaken to find your skill area there is in decline and devalued. If your skills (and personality) are not already seen as a hot commodity within the company, then when you leave, you definitely won't be prized by other companies either. If you're also older than average, that's a bad combo. So don't let yourself fall behind technically, and try to stay toward the forefront of your skill area. But I recommend you don't get too far ahead of the curve and jump blithely into a high-risk/high-reward role, since blue chip companies are often slow to adopt novelty and do so clumsily, which often leads to false starts and poor rates of success in new ventures. BTW, I'm almost 60. Nobody calls me kid any more. :-/

softawre 10y ago
Hi, almost 60. I hope I can ask this in a kind way. What about retirement? Are you that excited with your work that you don't want to retire? Or were there personal issues? Ugh.. not super kind. Hope you don't take it the wrong way, but it is super interesting to somebody who is mid-career like myself and interested in retirement (whether that means gaming all day or just working on stuff that is "actually" fun.)