4 ms·
> ageism in tech Several reasons for ageism sometimes missed. This from someone whose been discriminated against, who has hired, who now owns a company & who w
by howmayiannoyyou 4y ago
> ageism in tech
Several reasons for ageism sometimes missed. This from someone whose been discriminated against, who has hired, who now owns a company & who was also a recruiter.
__I don't agree with this__ just laying the reasons out for clarity sake:
- Hiring managers don't consider themselves ageist, but opt for younger employees whom they think make a better cultural fit. You can blame the 'work is my social life' culture that emerged in the 2000's and that persists today.
- Hiring managers don't want to be ageist, but they've had or heard of bad experiences where disgruntled or non-performing employees abuse the EEOC process for financial gain and retribution. Very well intentioned rules, designed to protect certain cohorts of employees, doing the exact opposite as is often the case with Gov regs.
- Hiring managers (usually fixated on 'new tech') who fear diminished learning, adoption or performance capacity in older employees.
- Money. The perception that older employees cost more in wages and benefits, without much thought to efficiency gains that accompanies gray hair.
I was age discriminated against by a well known SAAS provider, who used a 2014 interview process to extract a detailed roadmap and ideas for product growth from me, and then ghosted me. I've watched as they've (badly) implemented the specific of my roadmap the past few years, and I chuckle. 100% my fault for giving up too much value in the interview process, but it was tough time and I thought I really needed that job.
- draw_down 4y ago
- WesolyKubeczek 4y ago> Hiring managers don't consider themselves ageist, but > Hiring managers don't want to be ageist, but I classify this into the "I'm not a racist, but..." bucket. > Hiring managers (usually fixated on 'new tech') who fear diminished learning, adoption or performance capacity in older employees This is the textbook definition of what ageism is. Conclusion? They are ageists, plain as that. They may not consider themselves to be, or want to be, but they still are, because ageist is as ageist does, and it matters jack what appearances they want to keep or what they think or who they perceive in a mirror.
- orzig 4y agoI think there’s value in trying to understand the thought process, instead of just throwing a label on it and walking away
- grog454 4y agoI won't address "performance capacity" directly since it's too broad and vague, but it is plausible that there is diminished learning as we age. Think about learning new spoken languages. There's evidence to back the idea up in that context [0]. At the same time a 40 year old will likely have a higher proficiency at their language(s) than a 20 year old. This analogy exaggerates the idea (the trade-off) but I don't see why it wouldn't apply to programming languages as well. And this isn't ageism. [0] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/at-what-age-does-our-ability-to-learn-a-new-language-like-a-native-speaker-disappear/#:~:text=They%20concluded%20that%20the%20ability,before%20the%20age%20of%2010 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/at-what-age-does-....
- Cd00d 4y agoYou're ignoring that most "new" language problems have significant overlap with things already experienced, and there's only a minor translation issue, rather than a learning new things from scratch issue.