50 and facing ageism

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My job the “young staff” are getting older at a way younger age than prior generations.

I have a 36 year old working for me who is near useless. She reminds me of when I was young of a 64 year old who already put in retirement papers counting down the days and refusing to learn new things and doing bare minimum.

Last year a 42 year man shut down on me burnt out long commute and in his words being “chained to office” wish he had more time at home, time to hang out. In my one in one I tried to motivate and tell him he has up to 25 years left in corporate world. He could get to CEO if he wanted. He quit

I also lost a 52 year old women juggling her sick mom and work too much.

Next week I am bringing in someone young. Maybe I will get 3-5 years out of him before his 31 year old mid life crisis.

30 is the new 50 at some IT companies

Sure? 30 years ago the worker had a spouse at home doing all the household work, commutes were way shorter and less traffic, and houses cost far less so in general a slower pace of life. Now your average 30 year old has slotted what the average 60 year old did over his entire career, and is on call and tethered to work

You’re off on this. Thirty years ago many/most did not have a spouse at home. We have become more busy in our heads thanks to tech and therefore more exhausted. We are in bubbles and socialize less in person. Thi is having a significant effect on our well-being. About 50-60% of 18yo teens today spend time socializing with friends two or more times a week outside of school / organized activities (eg, sports teams). I can’t recall if that does or does not include online interactions of any kind like texting, gaming, video chat. As a society, we are more depressed — and this started BEFORE COVID. We are trading mental well-being for work efficiency (both for our employer and household) by staying home more. This is true for extroverts as well as introverts. And the upcoming generations Z and Alpha are anxious before they even get to the adult work stage.

Maybe spouse wasn't at home, but spouse did not have a professional job because the share of women in corporate america was tiny back then. So worked full time as a teache or similar pink collar job which was more accomdoting to family life. Now both parents need to go full tilt in career and its aged us.

DP here.

What are you talking about? Not true at all.

Agree. PP seems to be attributing the 60s and 70s and possibly earlier to the 80s and beyond. Is this the history schools are teaching?

+1 Even in the 80s, we were the latchkey kids because both parents were working all day.

+1 30 years ago most of the lawyers I knew were married to each other and had staff at home. The big charge was tech. I started working before cell phones and laptops existed. You cannot underestimate how that changed -- as in destroyed -- people's work/life balance. And it wasn't great before that. The upside was that it gave people mobility; the down side is that "at work" stopped being defined by location for the "office job" world, and so everywhere and all time became work.

I was talking about this just yesterday while my boss called and texted me nearly a dozen times while I was at my daughter's field hockey tournament in Philadelphia. The subject was non emergency in nature and had zero reason for attention on a Saturday morning. Because cell phones exist, my boss' poor impulse control coupled with his disregard for boundaries there I was.

He pretty much ruined my time at something I looked forward to all week.

This didn't happen before ~2000.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My job the “young staff” are getting older at a way younger age than prior generations.

I have a 36 year old working for me who is near useless. She reminds me of when I was young of a 64 year old who already put in retirement papers counting down the days and refusing to learn new things and doing bare minimum.

Last year a 42 year man shut down on me burnt out long commute and in his words being “chained to office” wish he had more time at home, time to hang out. In my one in one I tried to motivate and tell him he has up to 25 years left in corporate world. He could get to CEO if he wanted. He quit

I also lost a 52 year old women juggling her sick mom and work too much.

Next week I am bringing in someone young. Maybe I will get 3-5 years out of him before his 31 year old mid life crisis.

30 is the new 50 at some IT companies

Sure? 30 years ago the worker had a spouse at home doing all the household work, commutes were way shorter and less traffic, and houses cost far less so in general a slower pace of life. Now your average 30 year old has slotted what the average 60 year old did over his entire career, and is on call and tethered to work

You’re off on this. Thirty years ago many/most did not have a spouse at home. We have become more busy in our heads thanks to tech and therefore more exhausted. We are in bubbles and socialize less in person. Thi is having a significant effect on our well-being. About 50-60% of 18yo teens today spend time socializing with friends two or more times a week outside of school / organized activities (eg, sports teams). I can’t recall if that does or does not include online interactions of any kind like texting, gaming, video chat. As a society, we are more depressed — and this started BEFORE COVID. We are trading mental well-being for work efficiency (both for our employer and household) by staying home more. This is true for extroverts as well as introverts. And the upcoming generations Z and Alpha are anxious before they even get to the adult work stage.

Maybe spouse wasn't at home, but spouse did not have a professional job because the share of women in corporate america was tiny back then. So worked full time as a teache or similar pink collar job which was more accomdoting to family life. Now both parents need to go full tilt in career and its aged us.

30 years ago was the mid 1990s. Women were not relegated to pink collar jobs in the mid 1990s, my friend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people complain about this, but the problem is straightforward. By the time most employees are 50, they are expensive and their skills are dated. As for expense, they want a lot of money and time off, and the subsidy business pays for their healthcare is out of sight. As for skills, most people let them atrophy. Basically, if you’re 50 and not a senior manger/C-suite/rainmaker, you are likely to be let go. If you are super-capable on the technical front, you may still be let go, but can probably get consulting work, but that’s it. The other alternatives are government jobs, retirement, take something below your last pay grade, or work on a passion project.

That’s ridiculous. I’m just as a capable as 28 year old who easily make $200k at most corporations and roles.

Most “skills” these days are so much simpler and more automated than when we were staring out, I learned python in a weekend, it’s basically the baby psuedocode they taught us before we had to learn a lower level language (where you dealt with memory addresses and trash collection on your own). There is a whole world of virtualization and other tools to build on, but a random 50 year old is at least as capable as a random 28 year old.

It comes down to people don’t like managing people older than themselves. Sort of like how some people don’t like working with women or different races.

I’m a software developer that’s pushing 60. In my experience the vast majority of older developers actually can’t outperform a 28 year old. That’s someone with 6+ years of experience out of college. They’re generally quite competent as they’ve learned some real skills. They might not have a lot of breadth, but are generally very proficient in what they’ve been asked to do. I love computer science and software development so I spend a lot if time learning new skills and keeping up to date, but most older developers don’t.

I didn't claim to outperform, but I have no doubt that the average matches the average. First off, you have survivor bias filter -- the ones who made it to 50 are people who have proven they can actually do the job, not just people who happened to major in the hot industry and used some relatives connections to land a job. Second, theres more than just raw technical ability to being a competent contributor -- and a mature worker will again have seen it all and hopefully avoid pitfalls. Third, you know they won't be chomping at the bit to get promoted to manager or whatever -- they have already shown their preference to stay at the IC level in the coding dirt.

I agree, if you have someone who refuses to switch tools or paradigms ("in my day, we hand coded in assembly and we liked it"), sure that might not be a good fit. But if they have the skills on their resume, even having a portfolio of work products, they still won't get an interview 9 times out of 10. And that is because we as a society are uncomfortable with old people by and large.

Our society only wants 35-39 year olds.
22-35 you are not experienced.
Over 40 you are old.

Not if you are a physician. My DH is finally making $500k at age 50 and plans to retire at 70.

Oh he needs to retire by 60. 70 is way too old to be treating people.

My 70 year old boss is backcountry camping in Shenandoah Natioal Prak as we speak in 10 inches of snow and lows in the teens. He's completing a 40 mile circuit hike on the AT.

Sounds like you hang out with couch potatos.

If you grind for 40 years why not take the last 20 for your hobbies? Social security starts at 65.

[Anonymous]

I retired this past year from my federal job at the age of 63. I liked what I did but couldn’t stand my ageist boss. The guy would always talk about he wanted to pull in outsiders with more relevant skills. He only gave interesting work to the young 30s women he had hired.
Funny thing was idiot boss is 56 himself - not so young.

I don’t understand all this ageism. On every job I look at, the organization states discrimination that gender, sex, race and age
are strictly prohibited.

My mind still works and I am healthy. I actually enjoyed my work. I would like another job , but am afraid to even look lest I be discriminated against.

If it is illegal to discriminate based on age, why is it done so openly? Makes me sick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I retired this past year from my federal job at the age of 63. I liked what I did but couldn’t stand my ageist boss. The guy would always talk about he wanted to pull in outsiders with more relevant skills. He only gave interesting work to the young 30s women he had hired.
Funny thing was idiot boss is 56 himself - not so young.

I don’t understand all this ageism. On every job I look at, the organization states discrimination that gender, sex, race and age
are strictly prohibited.

My mind still works and I am healthy. I actually enjoyed my work. I would like another job , but am afraid to even look lest I be discriminated against.

If it is illegal to discriminate based on age, why is it done so openly? Makes me sick.

If sounds like your boss wants to feel more competent than his direct reports. I have seen this a lot, avg wit middle manager only hires avg wit inexperienced hire.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people complain about this, but the problem is straightforward. By the time most employees are 50, they are expensive and their skills are dated. As for expense, they want a lot of money and time off, and the subsidy business pays for their healthcare is out of sight. As for skills, most people let them atrophy. Basically, if you’re 50 and not a senior manger/C-suite/rainmaker, you are likely to be let go. If you are super-capable on the technical front, you may still be let go, but can probably get consulting work, but that’s it. The other alternatives are government jobs, retirement, take something below your last pay grade, or work on a passion project.

That’s ridiculous. I’m just as a capable as 28 year old who easily make $200k at most corporations and roles.

Most “skills” these days are so much simpler and more automated than when we were staring out, I learned python in a weekend, it’s basically the baby psuedocode they taught us before we had to learn a lower level language (where you dealt with memory addresses and trash collection on your own). There is a whole world of virtualization and other tools to build on, but a random 50 year old is at least as capable as a random 28 year old.

It comes down to people don’t like managing people older than themselves. Sort of like how some people don’t like working with women or different races.

I’m a software developer that’s pushing 60. In my experience the vast majority of older developers actually can’t outperform a 28 year old. That’s someone with 6+ years of experience out of college. They’re generally quite competent as they’ve learned some real skills. They might not have a lot of breadth, but are generally very proficient in what they’ve been asked to do. I love computer science and software development so I spend a lot if time learning new skills and keeping up to date, but most older developers don’t.

I didn't claim to outperform, but I have no doubt that the average matches the average. First off, you have survivor bias filter -- the ones who made it to 50 are people who have proven they can actually do the job, not just people who happened to major in the hot industry and used some relatives connections to land a job. Second, theres more than just raw technical ability to being a competent contributor -- and a mature worker will again have seen it all and hopefully avoid pitfalls. Third, you know they won't be chomping at the bit to get promoted to manager or whatever -- they have already shown their preference to stay at the IC level in the coding dirt.

I agree, if you have someone who refuses to switch tools or paradigms ("in my day, we hand coded in assembly and we liked it"), sure that might not be a good fit. But if they have the skills on their resume, even having a portfolio of work products, they still won't get an interview 9 times out of 10. And that is because we as a society are uncomfortable with old people by and large.

Our society only wants 35-39 year olds.
22-35 you are not experienced.
Over 40 you are old.

Not if you are a physician. My DH is finally making $500k at age 50 and plans to retire at 70.

Oh he needs to retire by 60. 70 is way too old to be treating people.

My dad is 70 and is a much better doctor than many of the younger ones I see. I hope you’re not one of the posters whining on this thread about being pushed out when you’re ageist yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people complain about this, but the problem is straightforward. By the time most employees are 50, they are expensive and their skills are dated. As for expense, they want a lot of money and time off, and the subsidy business pays for their healthcare is out of sight. As for skills, most people let them atrophy. Basically, if you’re 50 and not a senior manger/C-suite/rainmaker, you are likely to be let go. If you are super-capable on the technical front, you may still be let go, but can probably get consulting work, but that’s it. The other alternatives are government jobs, retirement, take something below your last pay grade, or work on a passion project.

That’s ridiculous. I’m just as a capable as 28 year old who easily make $200k at most corporations and roles.

Most “skills” these days are so much simpler and more automated than when we were staring out, I learned python in a weekend, it’s basically the baby psuedocode they taught us before we had to learn a lower level language (where you dealt with memory addresses and trash collection on your own). There is a whole world of virtualization and other tools to build on, but a random 50 year old is at least as capable as a random 28 year old.

It comes down to people don’t like managing people older than themselves. Sort of like how some people don’t like working with women or different races.

I’m a software developer that’s pushing 60. In my experience the vast majority of older developers actually can’t outperform a 28 year old. That’s someone with 6+ years of experience out of college. They’re generally quite competent as they’ve learned some real skills. They might not have a lot of breadth, but are generally very proficient in what they’ve been asked to do. I love computer science and software development so I spend a lot if time learning new skills and keeping up to date, but most older developers don’t.

I didn't claim to outperform, but I have no doubt that the average matches the average. First off, you have survivor bias filter -- the ones who made it to 50 are people who have proven they can actually do the job, not just people who happened to major in the hot industry and used some relatives connections to land a job. Second, theres more than just raw technical ability to being a competent contributor -- and a mature worker will again have seen it all and hopefully avoid pitfalls. Third, you know they won't be chomping at the bit to get promoted to manager or whatever -- they have already shown their preference to stay at the IC level in the coding dirt.

I agree, if you have someone who refuses to switch tools or paradigms ("in my day, we hand coded in assembly and we liked it"), sure that might not be a good fit. But if they have the skills on their resume, even having a portfolio of work products, they still won't get an interview 9 times out of 10. And that is because we as a society are uncomfortable with old people by and large.

Our society only wants 35-39 year olds.
22-35 you are not experienced.
Over 40 you are old.

Not if you are a physician. My DH is finally making $500k at age 50 and plans to retire at 70.

Oh he needs to retire by 60. 70 is way too old to be treating people.

My dad is 70 and is a much better doctor than many of the younger ones I see. I hope you’re not one of the posters whining on this thread about being pushed out when you’re ageist yourself.

+10. Absolutely. Older physicians have seen more cases. More experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My job the “young staff” are getting older at a way younger age than prior generations.

I have a 36 year old working for me who is near useless. She reminds me of when I was young of a 64 year old who already put in retirement papers counting down the days and refusing to learn new things and doing bare minimum.

Last year a 42 year man shut down on me burnt out long commute and in his words being “chained to office” wish he had more time at home, time to hang out. In my one in one I tried to motivate and tell him he has up to 25 years left in corporate world. He could get to CEO if he wanted. He quit

I also lost a 52 year old women juggling her sick mom and work too much.

Next week I am bringing in someone young. Maybe I will get 3-5 years out of him before his 31 year old mid life crisis.

30 is the new 50 at some IT companies

Sure? 30 years ago the worker had a spouse at home doing all the household work, commutes were way shorter and less traffic, and houses cost far less so in general a slower pace of life. Now your average 30 year old has slotted what the average 60 year old did over his entire career, and is on call and tethered to work

You’re off on this. Thirty years ago many/most did not have a spouse at home. We have become more busy in our heads thanks to tech and therefore more exhausted. We are in bubbles and socialize less in person. Thi is having a significant effect on our well-being. About 50-60% of 18yo teens today spend time socializing with friends two or more times a week outside of school / organized activities (eg, sports teams). I can’t recall if that does or does not include online interactions of any kind like texting, gaming, video chat. As a society, we are more depressed — and this started BEFORE COVID. We are trading mental well-being for work efficiency (both for our employer and household) by staying home more. This is true for extroverts as well as introverts. And the upcoming generations Z and Alpha are anxious before they even get to the adult work stage.

Maybe spouse wasn't at home, but spouse did not have a professional job because the share of women in corporate america was tiny back then. So worked full time as a teache or similar pink collar job which was more accomdoting to family life. Now both parents need to go full tilt in career and its aged us.

DP here.

What are you talking about? Not true at all.

Agree. PP seems to be attributing the 60s and 70s and possibly earlier to the 80s and beyond. Is this the history schools are teaching?

+1 Even in the 80s, we were the latchkey kids because both parents were working all day.

+1 30 years ago most of the lawyers I knew were married to each other and had staff at home. The big charge was tech. I started working before cell phones and laptops existed. You cannot underestimate how that changed -- as in destroyed -- people's work/life balance. And it wasn't great before that. The upside was that it gave people mobility; the down side is that "at work" stopped being defined by location for the "office job" world, and so everywhere and all time became work.

I was talking about this just yesterday while my boss called and texted me nearly a dozen times while I was at my daughter's field hockey tournament in Philadelphia. The subject was non emergency in nature and had zero reason for attention on a Saturday morning. Because cell phones exist, my boss' poor impulse control coupled with his disregard for boundaries there I was.

He pretty much ruined my time at something I looked forward to all week.

This didn't happen before ~2000.

Yes, I would be so frustrated at that also and it would ruin my day too. I try to talk myself down and not let it get to me, but once work is in my headspace, I can’t let it go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My job the “young staff” are getting older at a way younger age than prior generations.

I have a 36 year old working for me who is near useless. She reminds me of when I was young of a 64 year old who already put in retirement papers counting down the days and refusing to learn new things and doing bare minimum.

Last year a 42 year man shut down on me burnt out long commute and in his words being “chained to office” wish he had more time at home, time to hang out. In my one in one I tried to motivate and tell him he has up to 25 years left in corporate world. He could get to CEO if he wanted. He quit

I also lost a 52 year old women juggling her sick mom and work too much.

Next week I am bringing in someone young. Maybe I will get 3-5 years out of him before his 31 year old mid life crisis.

30 is the new 50 at some IT companies

Sure? 30 years ago the worker had a spouse at home doing all the household work, commutes were way shorter and less traffic, and houses cost far less so in general a slower pace of life. Now your average 30 year old has slotted what the average 60 year old did over his entire career, and is on call and tethered to work

You’re off on this. Thirty years ago many/most did not have a spouse at home. We have become more busy in our heads thanks to tech and therefore more exhausted. We are in bubbles and socialize less in person. Thi is having a significant effect on our well-being. About 50-60% of 18yo teens today spend time socializing with friends two or more times a week outside of school / organized activities (eg, sports teams). I can’t recall if that does or does not include online interactions of any kind like texting, gaming, video chat. As a society, we are more depressed — and this started BEFORE COVID. We are trading mental well-being for work efficiency (both for our employer and household) by staying home more. This is true for extroverts as well as introverts. And the upcoming generations Z and Alpha are anxious before they even get to the adult work stage.

Maybe spouse wasn't at home, but spouse did not have a professional job because the share of women in corporate america was tiny back then. So worked full time as a teache or similar pink collar job which was more accomdoting to family life. Now both parents need to go full tilt in career and its aged us.

30 years ago was the mid 1990s. Women were not relegated to pink collar jobs in the mid 1990s, my friend.

You are responding to ye old boomer with an antiquated idealized view of the past work world, when he had a secretary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people complain about this, but the problem is straightforward. By the time most employees are 50, they are expensive and their skills are dated. As for expense, they want a lot of money and time off, and the subsidy business pays for their healthcare is out of sight. As for skills, most people let them atrophy. Basically, if you’re 50 and not a senior manger/C-suite/rainmaker, you are likely to be let go. If you are super-capable on the technical front, you may still be let go, but can probably get consulting work, but that’s it. The other alternatives are government jobs, retirement, take something below your last pay grade, or work on a passion project.

That’s ridiculous. I’m just as a capable as 28 year old who easily make $200k at most corporations and roles.

Most “skills” these days are so much simpler and more automated than when we were staring out, I learned python in a weekend, it’s basically the baby psuedocode they taught us before we had to learn a lower level language (where you dealt with memory addresses and trash collection on your own). There is a whole world of virtualization and other tools to build on, but a random 50 year old is at least as capable as a random 28 year old.

It comes down to people don’t like managing people older than themselves. Sort of like how some people don’t like working with women or different races.

I’m a software developer that’s pushing 60. In my experience the vast majority of older developers actually can’t outperform a 28 year old. That’s someone with 6+ years of experience out of college. They’re generally quite competent as they’ve learned some real skills. They might not have a lot of breadth, but are generally very proficient in what they’ve been asked to do. I love computer science and software development so I spend a lot if time learning new skills and keeping up to date, but most older developers don’t.

I didn't claim to outperform, but I have no doubt that the average matches the average. First off, you have survivor bias filter -- the ones who made it to 50 are people who have proven they can actually do the job, not just people who happened to major in the hot industry and used some relatives connections to land a job. Second, theres more than just raw technical ability to being a competent contributor -- and a mature worker will again have seen it all and hopefully avoid pitfalls. Third, you know they won't be chomping at the bit to get promoted to manager or whatever -- they have already shown their preference to stay at the IC level in the coding dirt.

I agree, if you have someone who refuses to switch tools or paradigms ("in my day, we hand coded in assembly and we liked it"), sure that might not be a good fit. But if they have the skills on their resume, even having a portfolio of work products, they still won't get an interview 9 times out of 10. And that is because we as a society are uncomfortable with old people by and large.

Our society only wants 35-39 year olds.
22-35 you are not experienced.
Over 40 you are old.

Not if you are a physician. My DH is finally making $500k at age 50 and plans to retire at 70.

Oh he needs to retire by 60. 70 is way too old to be treating people.

My dad is 70 and is a much better doctor than many of the younger ones I see. I hope you’re not one of the posters whining on this thread about being pushed out when you’re ageist yourself.

+10. Absolutely. Older physicians have seen more cases. More experience.

AI is beating the young and the old at diagnostics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My job the “young staff” are getting older at a way younger age than prior generations.

I have a 36 year old working for me who is near useless. She reminds me of when I was young of a 64 year old who already put in retirement papers counting down the days and refusing to learn new things and doing bare minimum.

Last year a 42 year man shut down on me burnt out long commute and in his words being “chained to office” wish he had more time at home, time to hang out. In my one in one I tried to motivate and tell him he has up to 25 years left in corporate world. He could get to CEO if he wanted. He quit

I also lost a 52 year old women juggling her sick mom and work too much.

Next week I am bringing in someone young. Maybe I will get 3-5 years out of him before his 31 year old mid life crisis.

30 is the new 50 at some IT companies

Sure? 30 years ago the worker had a spouse at home doing all the household work, commutes were way shorter and less traffic, and houses cost far less so in general a slower pace of life. Now your average 30 year old has slotted what the average 60 year old did over his entire career, and is on call and tethered to work

You’re off on this. Thirty years ago many/most did not have a spouse at home. We have become more busy in our heads thanks to tech and therefore more exhausted. We are in bubbles and socialize less in person. Thi is having a significant effect on our well-being. About 50-60% of 18yo teens today spend time socializing with friends two or more times a week outside of school / organized activities (eg, sports teams). I can’t recall if that does or does not include online interactions of any kind like texting, gaming, video chat. As a society, we are more depressed — and this started BEFORE COVID. We are trading mental well-being for work efficiency (both for our employer and household) by staying home more. This is true for extroverts as well as introverts. And the upcoming generations Z and Alpha are anxious before they even get to the adult work stage.

Maybe spouse wasn't at home, but spouse did not have a professional job because the share of women in corporate america was tiny back then. So worked full time as a teache or similar pink collar job which was more accomdoting to family life. Now both parents need to go full tilt in career and its aged us.

30 years ago was the mid 1990s. Women were not relegated to pink collar jobs in the mid 1990s, my friend.

You are responding to ye old boomer with an antiquated idealized view of the past work world, when he had a secretary.

Today the admin at my firm processes credit amendments. Boomer men require a lot of babysitting for some reason.

[Anonymous]

age discrimination (and everything else) was made illegal because people do it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:age discrimination (and everything else) was made illegal because people do it

but hard to prove

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My job the “young staff” are getting older at a way younger age than prior generations.

I have a 36 year old working for me who is near useless. She reminds me of when I was young of a 64 year old who already put in retirement papers counting down the days and refusing to learn new things and doing bare minimum.

Last year a 42 year man shut down on me burnt out long commute and in his words being “chained to office” wish he had more time at home, time to hang out. In my one in one I tried to motivate and tell him he has up to 25 years left in corporate world. He could get to CEO if he wanted. He quit

I also lost a 52 year old women juggling her sick mom and work too much.

Next week I am bringing in someone young. Maybe I will get 3-5 years out of him before his 31 year old mid life crisis.

30 is the new 50 at some IT companies

Sure? 30 years ago the worker had a spouse at home doing all the household work, commutes were way shorter and less traffic, and houses cost far less so in general a slower pace of life. Now your average 30 year old has slotted what the average 60 year old did over his entire career, and is on call and tethered to work

You’re off on this. Thirty years ago many/most did not have a spouse at home. We have become more busy in our heads thanks to tech and therefore more exhausted. We are in bubbles and socialize less in person. Thi is having a significant effect on our well-being. About 50-60% of 18yo teens today spend time socializing with friends two or more times a week outside of school / organized activities (eg, sports teams). I can’t recall if that does or does not include online interactions of any kind like texting, gaming, video chat. As a society, we are more depressed — and this started BEFORE COVID. We are trading mental well-being for work efficiency (both for our employer and household) by staying home more. This is true for extroverts as well as introverts. And the upcoming generations Z and Alpha are anxious before they even get to the adult work stage.

Maybe spouse wasn't at home, but spouse did not have a professional job because the share of women in corporate america was tiny back then. So worked full time as a teache or similar pink collar job which was more accomdoting to family life. Now both parents need to go full tilt in career and its aged us.

DP here.

What are you talking about? Not true at all.

Agree. PP seems to be attributing the 60s and 70s and possibly earlier to the 80s and beyond. Is this the history schools are teaching?

+1 Even in the 80s, we were the latchkey kids because both parents were working all day.

+1 30 years ago most of the lawyers I knew were married to each other and had staff at home. The big charge was tech. I started working before cell phones and laptops existed. You cannot underestimate how that changed -- as in destroyed -- people's work/life balance. And it wasn't great before that. The upside was that it gave people mobility; the down side is that "at work" stopped being defined by location for the "office job" world, and so everywhere and all time became work.

I was talking about this just yesterday while my boss called and texted me nearly a dozen times while I was at my daughter's field hockey tournament in Philadelphia. The subject was non emergency in nature and had zero reason for attention on a Saturday morning. Because cell phones exist, my boss' poor impulse control coupled with his disregard for boundaries there I was.

He pretty much ruined my time at something I looked forward to all week.

This didn't happen before ~2000.

Yes, I would be so frustrated at that also and it would ruin my day too. I try to talk myself down and not let it get to me, but once work is in my headspace, I can’t let it go.

I had a boss like this once. Small business owner, gay, no partner, no kids, no hobbies, anxiety disorder. Work was literally his life. He had nothing else. It used to make him irate that I'd ignore his weekend contact.

I'd block him while leaving the office on Friday afternoon and I'd unblock him as I pulled in Monday morning. When I did unblock him my phone would have a seizure with notifications of 6 missed calls and a dozen texts from him asking things like "Where is the stapler?"
and "What Friday were you wanting off next Fall?"

I only lasted there long enough to find another job.

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Anonymous wrote:My job the “young staff” are getting older at a way younger age than prior generations.

I have a 36 year old working for me who is near useless. She reminds me of when I was young of a 64 year old who already put in retirement papers counting down the days and refusing to learn new things and doing bare minimum.

Last year a 42 year man shut down on me burnt out long commute and in his words being “chained to office” wish he had more time at home, time to hang out. In my one in one I tried to motivate and tell him he has up to 25 years left in corporate world. He could get to CEO if he wanted. He quit

I also lost a 52 year old women juggling her sick mom and work too much.

Next week I am bringing in someone young. Maybe I will get 3-5 years out of him before his 31 year old mid life crisis.

30 is the new 50 at some IT companies

Sure? 30 years ago the worker had a spouse at home doing all the household work, commutes were way shorter and less traffic, and houses cost far less so in general a slower pace of life. Now your average 30 year old has slotted what the average 60 year old did over his entire career, and is on call and tethered to work

You’re off on this. Thirty years ago many/most did not have a spouse at home. We have become more busy in our heads thanks to tech and therefore more exhausted. We are in bubbles and socialize less in person. Thi is having a significant effect on our well-being. About 50-60% of 18yo teens today spend time socializing with friends two or more times a week outside of school / organized activities (eg, sports teams). I can’t recall if that does or does not include online interactions of any kind like texting, gaming, video chat. As a society, we are more depressed — and this started BEFORE COVID. We are trading mental well-being for work efficiency (both for our employer and household) by staying home more. This is true for extroverts as well as introverts. And the upcoming generations Z and Alpha are anxious before they even get to the adult work stage.

Maybe spouse wasn't at home, but spouse did not have a professional job because the share of women in corporate america was tiny back then. So worked full time as a teache or similar pink collar job which was more accomdoting to family life. Now both parents need to go full tilt in career and its aged us.

DP here.

What are you talking about? Not true at all.

Agree. PP seems to be attributing the 60s and 70s and possibly earlier to the 80s and beyond. Is this the history schools are teaching?

+1 Even in the 80s, we were the latchkey kids because both parents were working all day.

+1 30 years ago most of the lawyers I knew were married to each other and had staff at home. The big charge was tech. I started working before cell phones and laptops existed. You cannot underestimate how that changed -- as in destroyed -- people's work/life balance. And it wasn't great before that. The upside was that it gave people mobility; the down side is that "at work" stopped being defined by location for the "office job" world, and so everywhere and all time became work.

I was talking about this just yesterday while my boss called and texted me nearly a dozen times while I was at my daughter's field hockey tournament in Philadelphia. The subject was non emergency in nature and had zero reason for attention on a Saturday morning. Because cell phones exist, my boss' poor impulse control coupled with his disregard for boundaries there I was.

He pretty much ruined my time at something I looked forward to all week.

This didn't happen before ~2000.

Yes, I would be so frustrated at that also and it would ruin my day too. I try to talk myself down and not let it get to me, but once work is in my headspace, I can’t let it go.

I had a boss like this once. Small business owner, gay, no partner, no kids, no hobbies, anxiety disorder. Work was literally his life. He had nothing else. It used to make him irate that I'd ignore his weekend contact.

I'd block him while leaving the office on Friday afternoon and I'd unblock him as I pulled in Monday morning. When I did unblock him my phone would have a seizure with notifications of 6 missed calls and a dozen texts from him asking things like "Where is the stapler?"
and "What Friday were you wanting off next Fall?"

I only lasted there long enough to find another job.

Did we have the same boss?