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Startups are not typically picky about hiring, in fact they have a major financial incentive to be anti-ageist. The problem is.. when the market tanks and start

Startups are not typically picky about hiring, in fact they have a major financial incentive to be anti-ageist. The problem is.. when the market tanks and startups go bust, it doesn't look so rosy anymore. Which is why the most coveted positions in this field are in a few corporations that pay top dollar. Getting hired there is a different story in terms of barrier to entry and competition you will face including ageism which is unfortunately very much present. So for someone non-young who looks at his future 10-20 years and tries to calculate risk, startups should not be taken into account. If one can't get a job at the top corps, one shouldn't enter the field. The risk is just too much.

tragictrash 4y ago
First off, I wouldn't work for "one of the top corps", being FAANG companies. The work life balance is terrible. Find a company that does it's own business and wants to hire their own developers. How do you expect to get into the field, not just graduating college with a CS degree? Your advice is like a self fulfilling prophecy. Go work at a startup. You'll learn tons. Sure, job security won't be as good as an established company, but the barrier to entry isn't either.
- QuercusMax 4y ago
  Your mileage can certainly vary with work-life-balance in FAANGs - I've been at Alphabet for almost 7 years and I've had great WLB. It's something you have to do deliberately, though; especially with distributed teams, there's always going to be emails coming in, chats to read, documents and CLs to review, etc. If you're someone who tends towards workaholism you may need to set some boundaries in your life. I'm not saying this is universally true at Alphabet, as there are definitely groups that don't do a good job of this, but it's very doable.
- armitron 4y ago
  That may still work when someone is in his 20s. For someone in mid-30s/early 40s, it's too much of a gamble, especially if one has a family to support. One starting from zero doesn't gain deep expertise in anything in a startup in the span of a few years. As long as the market is breaking one record after another and money is raining from the skies, this is not a problem. But it's an illusion and like all illusions, eventually will collapse. And when it does, you're at the bottom of the totem pole and as expendable as one can be. And this doesn't even take into account technological progress that is rapidly obsoleting many of these low-barrier-to-entry jobs.
bin_bash 4y ago
So there is FAANG and there are startups? I think you left out a few companies.
scarface74 4y ago
You don’t manage risk in your career by worrying about the company. You manage risk by making sure you have a marketable skillset, an updated resume, an updated “career document”, and having savings. If you count on your company to never lay you off, you end up like old IBMers who got complacent, found they didn’t have a marketable skillset and when they got laid off and couldn’t find a job, they complained about “ageism”. I’m 48 for what it is worth.
- triyambakam 4y ago
  Very useful advice, something I wish I would have kept in mind sooner!
soneca 4y ago
> ” If one can't get a job at the top corps, one shouldn't enter the field. The risk is just too much” What?? I think I never read anything in HN that I disagree more with. I got fired December 1st last year because the company I worked was heading to an IPO and decided that they didn’t want to work with full time contractors from outside the USA anymore. I got paid the whole December month. I started in a new job in January 18th. Being a good frontend developer is what minimizes the risk of my career, not working on companies that will exist in 20 years. I doubt a lot that I will be working in the same company that I am now in 10 years.

tragictrash 4y ago

First off, I wouldn't work for "one of the top corps", being FAANG companies. The work life balance is terrible. Find a company that does it's own business and wants to hire their own developers. How do you expect to get into the field, not just graduating college with a CS degree? Your advice is like a self fulfilling prophecy. Go work at a startup. You'll learn tons. Sure, job security won't be as good as an established company, but the barrier to entry isn't either.

QuercusMax 4y ago
Your mileage can certainly vary with work-life-balance in FAANGs - I've been at Alphabet for almost 7 years and I've had great WLB. It's something you have to do deliberately, though; especially with distributed teams, there's always going to be emails coming in, chats to read, documents and CLs to review, etc. If you're someone who tends towards workaholism you may need to set some boundaries in your life. I'm not saying this is universally true at Alphabet, as there are definitely groups that don't do a good job of this, but it's very doable.
armitron 4y ago
That may still work when someone is in his 20s. For someone in mid-30s/early 40s, it's too much of a gamble, especially if one has a family to support. One starting from zero doesn't gain deep expertise in anything in a startup in the span of a few years. As long as the market is breaking one record after another and money is raining from the skies, this is not a problem. But it's an illusion and like all illusions, eventually will collapse. And when it does, you're at the bottom of the totem pole and as expendable as one can be. And this doesn't even take into account technological progress that is rapidly obsoleting many of these low-barrier-to-entry jobs.

bin_bash 4y ago

So there is FAANG and there are startups? I think you left out a few companies.

scarface74 4y ago

You don’t manage risk in your career by worrying about the company. You manage risk by making sure you have a marketable skillset, an updated resume, an updated “career document”, and having savings. If you count on your company to never lay you off, you end up like old IBMers who got complacent, found they didn’t have a marketable skillset and when they got laid off and couldn’t find a job, they complained about “ageism”. I’m 48 for what it is worth.

triyambakam 4y ago
Very useful advice, something I wish I would have kept in mind sooner!

soneca 4y ago

> ” If one can't get a job at the top corps, one shouldn't enter the field. The risk is just too much” What?? I think I never read anything in HN that I disagree more with. I got fired December 1st last year because the company I worked was heading to an IPO and decided that they didn’t want to work with full time contractors from outside the USA anymore. I got paid the whole December month. I started in a new job in January 18th. Being a good frontend developer is what minimizes the risk of my career, not working on companies that will exist in 20 years. I doubt a lot that I will be working in the same company that I am now in 10 years.