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Without a doubt it's age discrimination...you've hit the nail on the head. Also, God help you if you have followed a non-traditional career path where you deci

by cubano 8y ago

Without a doubt it's age discrimination...you've hit the nail on the head. Also, God help you if you have followed a non-traditional career path where you decide at points in your life that you wanted a break from it all. I, too, in 1988, fresh out of my BS in CP with no family or life experiences and a strong desire to code day and night would have sailed past the technical side of these often ridiculous interviews for jobs I could literally do in my sleep now. But now, at 53, not only has Father Time fucked with my ability to sight memorize (something I took totally for granted in my younger years) without even trying, I find it almost impossible to hide my frustration at the ridiculousness of the very idea that I would be unable to do the work required of me for the job... "Ok..we really need someone to fix X and Y on this website, and it would be just great if they could reconfigure Z on the server..." "Well, sure...I first saw X and Y-like issues back in the mid-90s in a networked client-server environment and I did X(x) and Y(x) to fix it, and again saw it in the mid-00s under the LAMP-stack and again fixed it doing X'(x) and Y'(x)...and the server issue is something I've seen over and over again during my 30y+ career..I am 100% certain I can solve these relatively simple issues for you guys..." "Oh...yeah ok...so can you whiteboard a bubblesort in Javascript for us? You have 15 minutes." "???" ...and of course I don't get a callback. Do people think I'm lying about all my experience on my resume or what exactly? It's at the level of life and death for me right now, to be honest. I've been shooting out resume after resume for the past month, and nothing good is happening. All I know for certain is...if the real issue was truly about finding someone who can do the job and fix the problems, there is no way in hell I'd still be looking now.

knightofmars 8y ago
They don't want to pay you what they think (the you in their heads think you think) you are worth. That sounds convoluted but I've watched it happen repeatedly. Bill budget IT guy, "What? We need to harden a server? Why do we need to pay this guy over a hundred thousand a year to do that? The internet is full of documentation. Let's hire someone with just enough technical know how to implement it." The reality on the other side is that hiring an experienced engineer has it's risk. I've worked with 20+ years of experience engineers who did it because it was a job and didn't deserve the salary based on their skill set. Companies let this happen, you need to cap positions and then give inflation based raises.
- mooreds 8y ago
  > The reality on the other side is that hiring an experienced engineer has it's risk. Totally agree and have seen it from the interviewee side. I interviewed in March last year as an experienced engineer, and my network was the number one source of interviews and how I found my current job. Don't neglect your network, folks. As you age, it will become ever more important for your next position.
fpalmans 8y ago
It is baffling that someone with over three decades of experience would be expected to go through the same interview process as a recent graduate. When I graduated (over two decades ago, and in Belgium), testing was a regular part of the interviewing process. However, it was understood that this was only done for people with no or very little experience. Later in my career, this fact helped me weed out the jobs which were below my experience level. After stating such and withdrawing candidature for the position, in several cases I was even contacted to come in for a more senior position. The world has certainly changed.
towaway1138 8y ago
I'm about your age, and this is very relatable. My last job hunt took about six months. Among the other high points, I passed the on-site day at Google, passed the hiring committee, and then had an executive reach out to quash my hire. I did end up finding something I'm enjoying. Anyway, just wanted to send you some support. Keep your head up and keep going. You really only need one offer.

by cubano 8y ago

knightofmars 8y ago

They don't want to pay you what they think (the you in their heads think you think) you are worth. That sounds convoluted but I've watched it happen repeatedly. Bill budget IT guy, "What? We need to harden a server? Why do we need to pay this guy over a hundred thousand a year to do that? The internet is full of documentation. Let's hire someone with just enough technical know how to implement it." The reality on the other side is that hiring an experienced engineer has it's risk. I've worked with 20+ years of experience engineers who did it because it was a job and didn't deserve the salary based on their skill set. Companies let this happen, you need to cap positions and then give inflation based raises.

mooreds 8y ago
> The reality on the other side is that hiring an experienced engineer has it's risk. Totally agree and have seen it from the interviewee side. I interviewed in March last year as an experienced engineer, and my network was the number one source of interviews and how I found my current job. Don't neglect your network, folks. As you age, it will become ever more important for your next position.

fpalmans 8y ago

It is baffling that someone with over three decades of experience would be expected to go through the same interview process as a recent graduate. When I graduated (over two decades ago, and in Belgium), testing was a regular part of the interviewing process. However, it was understood that this was only done for people with no or very little experience. Later in my career, this fact helped me weed out the jobs which were below my experience level. After stating such and withdrawing candidature for the position, in several cases I was even contacted to come in for a more senior position. The world has certainly changed.

towaway1138 8y ago

I'm about your age, and this is very relatable. My last job hunt took about six months. Among the other high points, I passed the on-site day at Google, passed the hiring committee, and then had an executive reach out to quash my hire. I did end up finding something I'm enjoying. Anyway, just wanted to send you some support. Keep your head up and keep going. You really only need one offer.