7 ms·
The age bias is real, but it may not be as big as the perception is. My current position is with a company that pushes the "youth" message very loudly; and for
by blunte 6y ago
The age bias is real, but it may not be as big as the perception is. My current position is with a company that pushes the "youth" message very loudly; and for that reason, I ignored them until a recruiter convinced me to allow myself to be presented.
During the first interview, I brought this up. The average age in the company was 28, so why would they want me? The answer surprised me: they wanted me because of my age, experiences (generalist), and wisdom. Lots of youthful, intelligent people are an asset - but so are a few veterans to provide perspective and keep a check on reality.
You are just as likely to get rejected for a reason other than age, so you might as well just approach with enthusiasm any opportunity that interest you. If you don't show up to an interview angry about age discrimination, you're more likely to be accepted irrespective of your age.
Lastly, remember that companies are made up of people, and people come with all sorts of mentalities. A few will indeed have a bias against people their parents' age, but I bet it's not as many people with that attitude as you might expect.
The only place we really cannot compete with is on salary (unless you're willing to work at entry/medior rates). Experienced people generally cost a good bit more, and the value proposition may not be there for some candidates/situations.
- solidasparagus 6y agoI agree with this. I worked at a big company that leaned very young, but that was because we couldn't find enough senior engineers, not because we didn't want them. It's important to have experienced people who can guide the young and enthusiastic away from rediscovering the lessons that experienced devs know by heart.
- jpindar 6y ago>unless you're willing to work at entry rates How do you communicate that though? Isn't it considered wrong to just say it because that indicates a lack of confidence?
- artsyca 6y agoBro don't quote dollars tell them percentiles based on industry averages as published by the Robert Half Salary Guide Say like I'm willing to start at the 25th percentile for a Cloud Computing Analyst in exchange for an upward career path over the next 3-5 years or something like that
- wyclif 6y agoYes, I was thinking the same thing. Absolutely nothing wrong with that kind of talk and recruiters and interviewers will be familiar with it and shouldn't bat an eye when you phrase it that way.
- psmithsfhn 6y agoHas anyone besides me tried the "I will work for less than the other guy!" routine? Never worked for me Never even thunk about working for me I actually think salaries for people should follow the bell curve In part to help olds like me get hired But maybe also for practical reasons
- artsyca 6y agoIt never works -- you gotta get them to absorb the sticker shock if you want them to respect you
- artsyca 6y agoWhat's going to get you rejected as an older or experienced dev is whether you fall or don't fall for the typical recruitment cons and how well you play along with the usual interview game theory tactics i.e. prisoner's dilemma scenarios. Last summer I interviewed at a ton of companies and truly I rejected them way before they rejected me but what I learned essentially is that if you fall for the typical recruitment razzmataz as a more experienced dev then they'll assume you're stupid and if you don't fall for it they'll assume you're too smart, if you catch my drift. Where once we were meant to show enthusiasm now we're supposed to play cool. How many companies lead with "We're pretty casual around here" as if that doesn't actually mean "we'll fire you on a dime" You have to tread a very fine line that shows you're willing to play dumb while at the same time showing you have the chops -- it's more about how much cognitive dissonance or doublethink you can stomach than anything to do with your vital statistics and all these technical interviews are bollocks compared to fourth year courses in a world where most devs barely speak English but I digress I have literally seen everything in this industry from from y2k to working with distributed overseas teams to getting tattooed in San Francisco and there's nothing new under the sun except for rife imposterism and rampant entitlement. They're sizing you up the same way you're sizing them up with respect to the developer stereotypes and management dramas and all that toxic crap while testing you to see if you're willing to play along with their dysfunction and so called "culture fit" aka groupthink mentality. You can probably tell I have no love left for this lost generation of code monkeys, after having fathered them along with an entire generation of misfits and dreamers whereas now they're all trying to fit in and losing themselves to the machine. Once they learn how to do adulting maybe they'll learn to have more fun. Until then they're just a bunch of lemmings at the gate. I'd go further into this downward spiral but I'll show myself out. Think about what you'll look like as a sixty year old wearing hoodies and t shirts and ask yourself whether you've made the right life choices. Cue the downvotes you filthy scoundrels.
- i_haz_rabies 6y agoNot much disagreement, except that I plan on wearing hoodies at 60 because hoodies are great.
- 6y ago