Well said! My product management take on the subject is that people's perception of you is far more important than the reality. Skills or not, your appearance,

Well said! My product management take on the subject is that people's perception of you is far more important than the reality. Skills or not, your appearance, mannerisms, relatability, and a thousand other things go into other's perceptions. Being older and from another generation changes the perception inherently. Can be good or bad it turns out, but it certainly requires human management skills and cannot be simply solved by "being better". That seems like an engineer's solution to the problem. If people were rational then things could be different, but from what I have seen people do not buy the most efficient and effective products, nor do they hire the most skilled and efficient people. They hire someone because they feel good about hiring them and they believe they will make their lives easier.