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YES! :-( I'm in my 60's. Have worked as a contractor in effectively every field of IT and taught post-grad SE courses at university. I still program in C, Java
by GianFabien 4y ago
YES! :-(
I'm in my 60's. Have worked as a contractor in effectively every field of IT and taught post-grad SE courses at university. I still program in C, Javascript and Python. Can design, build and configure data centers. Know most variants of Unix and its progeny, etc, etc.
Yet ... I'm finding it very hard to get contract work post COVID. Recruiters are looking for 3-5 years experience with specific products. I demonstrably can learn fast and most of IT is old wine in new bottles with fancy labels. But that doesn't meet expectations.
If you seek intrinsic motivators, then being a generalist satisfies curiosity and yearning for knowledge. If you seek optimum employability and high salaries then being a specialist is the key. BUT a lucrative specialization now, will probably be of little value in 5-10 years time.
- partomniscient 4y agoI can't tell, but I suspect this is more likely a problem of ageism rather than generalism here. But maybe beyond a certain age you need to specialise simply in order to compete for positions. Most employers are going to choose a younger more pliable (or cheaper) hire over someone who knows the same stuff but due to lived experience is less tolerant to bullshit.
- borski 4y agoIt's also possible that it's because parent is looking for contract work, not fulltime W2 work.
- GianFabien 4y agoAgeism could be a factor, but no recruiter will ever say it point blank. As for becoming BS intolerant, I see that with my cohort who are still working in IT. Looking back at my work experience, becoming a generalist happened by being serially a specialist.
- peppermint_tea 4y agosorry to hear that. do you think ageism have something to do with it or no? (generalist in my early 40's here similar skillset sprinkled with cloud stuff)