Ageism in tech — no longer a thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even young people look old these days. If you look reasonably OK and are well groomed you're good to go assuming you know the Tech and all

Well, my DH is overweight and grey, so maybe he has a point?

Get him a glow up. Tech bod is fine, but maybe color that hair, nice glasses and some premium hoodies

Pink or blue tip on the hair and a bushy beard can take off 20 years of aging. Put on funky glasses or shades, erase another 7-10 years.

Looks are one thing, year of graduation is another. A verifiable legally legit background/reference check is common if "Bachelor degree + 3 years or 7 years experience" is the req. College degree isn't protected under "age discrimination".

The background checks and details are not done by the hiring manager. In fact at Google, a hiring committee has to give a hire/no hire decision based on the feedback of interviews by peers. As a candidate you don't meet individuals in the hiring committee and they assess you based on notes from all the interviewers which number 4-5. If you've been through this grueling af process it is actually good for minimizing the chance of age discrimination (its not foolproof though). By the time you are asked for college transcripts you are probably a very viable candidate - but this is not info. the hiring manager necessarily sees. Obviously it doesn't stop someone from using the internet for more information.

50+ who had a good experience interviewing with Google

[Anonymous]

It's a thing for full-time employees in Silicon Valley, but SWE's can write their ticket as long as they've stayed up to date. May not be one of the hip companies but they'll have a job.

Can also make $$$$$ freelancing and access to insurance is better than it used to be. Software development is wildly in demand for freelancers. Sad to say, Russia's war on Ukriane has also massively increased the need. A LOT of web, mobile, and software development is located in those two countries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even young people look old these days. If you look reasonably OK and are well groomed you're good to go assuming you know the Tech and all

Well, my DH is overweight and grey, so maybe he has a point?

Get him a glow up. Tech bod is fine, but maybe color that hair, nice glasses and some premium hoodies

I wish I knew you! This is the best laugh I've had on this board. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

I would rather hire a 50+ developer than a 23-30 year old who will require tons of training and oversight and then leave after a year, having contributed nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would rather hire a 50+ developer than a 23-30 year old who will require tons of training and oversight and then leave after a year, having contributed nothing.

Still ageist in that the older employee has to deliver greater value for same position. What about a 50 year old career change?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would rather hire a 50+ developer than a 23-30 year old who will require tons of training and oversight and then leave after a year, having contributed nothing.

Still ageist in that the older employee has to deliver greater value for same position. What about a 50 year old career change?

Exactly. Superstar greybeard are always a thing. But if you are two equivalent candidates, implicitly more is expected of older candidates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With insane compensation and demand for tech skills, can we put to bed the worry that when you are 40 or 50 it would be hard to find a job in tech? My DH is a software engineer and wants to take a pay cut to go Fed ($300k to $176k) because he is worried about his current job and doesn’t think he can land another tech job if he is laid off. He’s 49 FWIW

Does he actually have a job offer or he’s considering applying? If he wants to be a Fed making that much money, he’s unlikely to find it as a Developer and will need PM or Cybersecurity experience as a Contractor, at the very least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With insane compensation and demand for tech skills, can we put to bed the worry that when you are 40 or 50 it would be hard to find a job in tech? My DH is a software engineer and wants to take a pay cut to go Fed ($300k to $176k) because he is worried about his current job and doesn’t think he can land another tech job if he is laid off. He’s 49 FWIW

Does he actually have a job offer or he’s considering applying? If he wants to be a Fed making that much money, he’s unlikely to find it as a Developer and will need PM or Cybersecurity experience as a Contractor, at the very least.

He has an offer as a technical lead on some big software infrastructure. Cloud etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even young people look old these days. If you look reasonably OK and are well groomed you're good to go assuming you know the Tech and all

Well, my DH is overweight and grey, so maybe he has a point?

Get him a glow up. Tech bod is fine, but maybe color that hair, nice glasses and some premium hoodies

Pink or blue tip on the hair and a bushy beard can take off 20 years of aging. Put on funky glasses or shades, erase another 7-10 years.

Looks are one thing, year of graduation is another. A verifiable legally legit background/reference check is common if "Bachelor degree + 3 years or 7 years experience" is the req. College degree isn't protected under "age discrimination".

If you make it that far they’re invested in you and usually ready to offer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even young people look old these days. If you look reasonably OK and are well groomed you're good to go assuming you know the Tech and all

Well, my DH is overweight and grey, so maybe he has a point?

Get him a glow up. Tech bod is fine, but maybe color that hair, nice glasses and some premium hoodies

Pink or blue tip on the hair and a bushy beard can take off 20 years of aging. Put on funky glasses or shades, erase another 7-10 years.

Looks are one thing, year of graduation is another. A verifiable legally legit background/reference check is common if "Bachelor degree + 3 years or 7 years experience" is the req. College degree isn't protected under "age discrimination".

If you make it that far they’re invested in you and usually ready to offer.

Looks aren’t fooling anyone. If you are 50, they know you aren’t 40

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even young people look old these days. If you look reasonably OK and are well groomed you're good to go assuming you know the Tech and all

Well, my DH is overweight and grey, so maybe he has a point?

Get him a glow up. Tech bod is fine, but maybe color that hair, nice glasses and some premium hoodies

Pink or blue tip on the hair and a bushy beard can take off 20 years of aging. Put on funky glasses or shades, erase another 7-10 years.

Looks are one thing, year of graduation is another. A verifiable legally legit background/reference check is common if "Bachelor degree + 3 years or 7 years experience" is the req. College degree isn't protected under "age discrimination".

If you make it that far they’re invested in you and usually ready to offer.

So ageism is fading right?