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My thought is that startups tend to target 'liberal' developers so they can iterate fast and innovate rapidly. It's the 'fuck it ship it' kinda attitude.

by cyborg 14y ago

slantyyz 14y ago
And what does that have to do with ageism? The thing that keeps a 40-something like me from wanting to be in an SV type of startups relate more to priorities. I've been through the grind from the first bubble, and would rather not go through it again. I'm talking about: * Giving up salary for equity/options/signing bonuses. No thanks. * Working stupid long hours that bring my effective hourly rate down to a fast-food restaurant manager's hourly rate. Because of this, I'd probably be flagged as someone who has "no passion" for what I do. No, I just like a balanced life. * Working in a "frat house" environment. I've been there and had fun in those environments, but I'm past it, and prefer a more diverse workplace. * Working in a VC-funded company - at least in my past experience - usually means the focus shifts from ramping up quickly vs. building value and/or a solid business model
- dllthomas 14y ago
  If you don't want to be in a startup, fine, that's not ageism. The problem is if you're turned away because of your age if you do. There's a perception that older folks are going to be "stodgy", overly concerned with outdated engineering principles and less with cool new features, and that startups need the latter. This attribute seems to map reasonably well onto Yegge's conservative/liberal framework, and to the degree that it does (and the degree to which the survey is representative) this seems to not be the case empirically. It doesn't preclude the possibility, of course, that there may be other reasons someone might not be a good fit that age may predict.
  - slantyyz 14y ago
    Having been part of that hiring process during the first bubble, we'd drop a lot of older, skilled candidates for "cultural fit", which was related to the exact same things as to why I wouldn't really want to be in a SV startup at my current age. * Candidate asks about overtime? Probably won't work late with us during crunches. * Candidate won't take equity in lieu of a pay cut? Doesn't get at all what our mission is. etc. etc.

My thought is that startups tend to target 'liberal' developers so they can iterate fast and innovate rapidly. It's the 'fuck it ship it' kinda attitude.

by cyborg 14y ago

My thought is that startups tend to target 'liberal' developers so they can iterate fast and innovate rapidly. It's the 'fuck it ship it' kinda attitude.

slantyyz 14y ago

And what does that have to do with ageism? The thing that keeps a 40-something like me from wanting to be in an SV type of startups relate more to priorities. I've been through the grind from the first bubble, and would rather not go through it again. I'm talking about: * Giving up salary for equity/options/signing bonuses. No thanks. * Working stupid long hours that bring my effective hourly rate down to a fast-food restaurant manager's hourly rate. Because of this, I'd probably be flagged as someone who has "no passion" for what I do. No, I just like a balanced life. * Working in a "frat house" environment. I've been there and had fun in those environments, but I'm past it, and prefer a more diverse workplace. * Working in a VC-funded company - at least in my past experience - usually means the focus shifts from ramping up quickly vs. building value and/or a solid business model

dllthomas 14y ago
If you don't want to be in a startup, fine, that's not ageism. The problem is if you're turned away because of your age if you do. There's a perception that older folks are going to be "stodgy", overly concerned with outdated engineering principles and less with cool new features, and that startups need the latter. This attribute seems to map reasonably well onto Yegge's conservative/liberal framework, and to the degree that it does (and the degree to which the survey is representative) this seems to not be the case empirically. It doesn't preclude the possibility, of course, that there may be other reasons someone might not be a good fit that age may predict.
- slantyyz 14y ago
  Having been part of that hiring process during the first bubble, we'd drop a lot of older, skilled candidates for "cultural fit", which was related to the exact same things as to why I wouldn't really want to be in a SV startup at my current age. * Candidate asks about overtime? Probably won't work late with us during crunches. * Candidate won't take equity in lieu of a pay cut? Doesn't get at all what our mission is. etc. etc.