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Similar situation here with over 30 years experience. Early on there were some obvious flaws in my resume, cover letters, and interviewing. Some of that can b

Similar situation here with over 30 years experience. Early on there were some obvious flaws in my resume, cover letters, and interviewing. Some of that can be fixed and some of that is just me being anxious and autistic which isn't going to completely go away though to some extent that can be controlled. In general there is a problem that I mostly interview with people who have around 5-15 years of experience and to them my resume and skill set don't fit in the usual boxes. Many replies in this thread are suggesting that there is one thing going wrong but in my case a potentially interesting conclusion is that there are lots of different failure modes coming up. Mostly things come apart in coding evaluations where I get nervous and make mistakes and in general go too slow. Other points of contention that have come up is a lack of experience with specific tools and libraries involved in the work. Experience and methodology with testing and ideas about management is also a big deal. Several interviews have gone off the rails when my take on Agile didn't completely mesh with what companies are doing. So it is good to always look for what in yourself you can improve but also be aware that no one is completely perfect and in many cases even one minor issue can prevent an offer from being made.

busterarm 4y ago
In any good place to work, specific tool experience shouldn't matter unless the company is in a very specialized niche. This is especially true considering you come in with 30 years experience. To be honest, it sounds to me like the headwinds you're really encountering are ageism and your interviewers are trying to throw you off that scent for liability reasons.
- ghaff 4y ago
  Over and above outright ageism, 30 years of experience also comes with commensurate expectations and, even if not necessarily a specific tool, organizations probably won't hire someone that senior if their experience is only tangentially related to that needed for a role. Someone who is junior you might go "They're bright, they'll pick it up." Hiring a senior person is often about hiring in skills you don't have internally and need.

busterarm 4y ago

In any good place to work, specific tool experience shouldn't matter unless the company is in a very specialized niche. This is especially true considering you come in with 30 years experience. To be honest, it sounds to me like the headwinds you're really encountering are ageism and your interviewers are trying to throw you off that scent for liability reasons.

ghaff 4y ago
Over and above outright ageism, 30 years of experience also comes with commensurate expectations and, even if not necessarily a specific tool, organizations probably won't hire someone that senior if their experience is only tangentially related to that needed for a role. Someone who is junior you might go "They're bright, they'll pick it up." Hiring a senior person is often about hiring in skills you don't have internally and need.