4 ms·

Silicon Valley ageism: ‘They were, like, wow, you use Twitter?’

3 points by leothekim 9y ago

Powerofmene 9y ago
It is a sad fact that ageism exists and has been rampant in many industries but especially in tech. It exists in many ways as the article explains including asking for age on applications. It would be nice to see a group with as much influence and power as YC take a step to show the industry that age is just a number. There are people over 31 with great ideas, ambition, drive and the ability to grow a hugely successful startup. It is not enough to just say you support equal opportunities and equal treatment within the industry. Somebody needs to take the lead in putting action behind their words. Maybe a first step YC could take is by taking the request for an age of founders off the YC application or creating a diverse funded pool. If the age request is for a legitimate non discriminatory reason, such as making sure the founders are of an age to legally enter into contracts, simply as that question; are you 18 years of age or older? Or if mentoring a widely diverse (by age) group is difficult, then maybe they could select a dozen or more groups with founders over say 40 and fund and assist in growing those groups independent of their usual groups. I know their have been many groups who have terrific ideas that warrant a chance at success but are not submitted because of the prevalent ageism. It might be an interesting study to see a comparison on growth, profitability, media coverage, ROI, etc. between the standard funded startups and more mature funded startups. I don't see a downside to such an experiment.
- brooklyn_ashey 9y ago
  "Maybe a first step YC could take is by taking the request for an age of founders off the YC application or creating a diverse funded pool." Absolutely. And not only are there people over 31 (I know you agree, just adding to it) with great ideas, ambition, and drive, there are actually people over 40, 50 and 60 with the same. Generation X fell into a terrible trap and I don't see it written about much. When the Gen Xers were of what is considered peak professionalism age now (early 20s), there were no jobs for them until they proved themselves by going into massive debt to get multiple graduate degrees. When they were finally done with that process, so they could "prove" their worth, they were tacitly told that they were too old to work starting at age 37 or so. As a Gen Xer, I've watched this happen to practically every accomplished person I know. Those who have not been crushed under the wheel, picked themselves and their two PHDs up off the floor and retrained themselves in tech only to be treated like they know absolutely nothing, or are a poor "culture fit". They seem doomed to have to prove themselves over and over again to be shoved aside. When we speak of college debt, we only speak of millennials, but GenX was the first suffering generation, and they got nothing at all for that debt. The only way for GenXers to get a decent job these days is either to lie about their age if they can or to depend upon connections and get a job that isn't based upon merit. Let's face it, everyone needs a connection, but the GenXers are surrounded by colleagues who are in the process of lying and other millennial colleagues who use Botox already. So many of these people are great at so many things, and yet companies pretend that if someone has not been VP of social media marketing, they have no idea how to write good copy. There is this strange need to have specialized in mico professions that aren't lifetime pursuits as though they actually are great art forms. It would be wonderful iif some of these accomplised folks could have opportunities to use their accumulated skills instead of gradually becoming homeless with advanced degrees.

3 points by leothekim 9y ago

It is a sad fact that ageism exists and has been rampant in many industries but especially in tech. It exists in many ways as the article explains including asking for age on applications. It would be nice to see a group with as much influence and power as YC take a step to show the industry that age is just a number. There are people over 31 with great ideas, ambition, drive and the ability to grow a hugely successful startup. It is not enough to just say you support equal opportunities and equal treatment within the industry. Somebody needs to take the lead in putting action behind their words. Maybe a first step YC could take is by taking the request for an age of founders off the YC application or creating a diverse funded pool. If the age request is for a legitimate non discriminatory reason, such as making sure the founders are of an age to legally enter into contracts, simply as that question; are you 18 years of age or older? Or if mentoring a widely diverse (by age) group is difficult, then maybe they could select a dozen or more groups with founders over say 40 and fund and assist in growing those groups independent of their usual groups. I know their have been many groups who have terrific ideas that warrant a chance at success but are not submitted because of the prevalent ageism. It might be an interesting study to see a comparison on growth, profitability, media coverage, ROI, etc. between the standard funded startups and more mature funded startups. I don't see a downside to such an experiment.

brooklyn_ashey 9y ago
"Maybe a first step YC could take is by taking the request for an age of founders off the YC application or creating a diverse funded pool." Absolutely. And not only are there people over 31 (I know you agree, just adding to it) with great ideas, ambition, and drive, there are actually people over 40, 50 and 60 with the same. Generation X fell into a terrible trap and I don't see it written about much. When the Gen Xers were of what is considered peak professionalism age now (early 20s), there were no jobs for them until they proved themselves by going into massive debt to get multiple graduate degrees. When they were finally done with that process, so they could "prove" their worth, they were tacitly told that they were too old to work starting at age 37 or so. As a Gen Xer, I've watched this happen to practically every accomplished person I know. Those who have not been crushed under the wheel, picked themselves and their two PHDs up off the floor and retrained themselves in tech only to be treated like they know absolutely nothing, or are a poor "culture fit". They seem doomed to have to prove themselves over and over again to be shoved aside. When we speak of college debt, we only speak of millennials, but GenX was the first suffering generation, and they got nothing at all for that debt. The only way for GenXers to get a decent job these days is either to lie about their age if they can or to depend upon connections and get a job that isn't based upon merit. Let's face it, everyone needs a connection, but the GenXers are surrounded by colleagues who are in the process of lying and other millennial colleagues who use Botox already. So many of these people are great at so many things, and yet companies pretend that if someone has not been VP of social media marketing, they have no idea how to write good copy. There is this strange need to have specialized in mico professions that aren't lifetime pursuits as though they actually are great art forms. It would be wonderful iif some of these accomplised folks could have opportunities to use their accumulated skills instead of gradually becoming homeless with advanced degrees.