Typical American Career path - esp after 50

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to make it to c-suite or just below in the giant corporations (with a track record of quantifiable results) to become a fractional c-suite consultant.

There is no coasting if you want to make it past 50 in a F100.

These companies are huge, but they all can’t become executives— what happens to most employees in their 50s ?

They get pushed out to make room for the younger crew coming up behind them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's very hard to get hired after 50. They don't want to pay what you expect and prefer younger workers.

So what do most Americans do??? I only know people who don’t get laid off (teachers, contractors) or who retire with big money at 50 (lawyers and tech). My DS is looking at career paths outside this, and he is wondering what happens if he doesn’t want to run up the career ladder??

I worked in tech, so I know a lot of people who were in this situation. Some had saved enough to retire, or made do. A few were so highly networked that they were able to land at other companies. This is especially true for great salespeople or technical experts. Some looked for and eventually landed government jobs. Others had to take money out of their homes or 401ks. A few became teachers. Others went into retail or car sales, or bought a small franchise business. It’s a Ponzi scheme and it’s not ideal. Good luck to you and your friends.

[Anonymous]

The federal govt is where you boomer go to die after 50

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The federal govt is where you boomer go to die after 50

But that’s a DC thing. What do people do in Seattle, Austin, St Louis do when they have been pushed out at 50 from corporate America?

I tell my kids they have to keep moving from job to job, role to role — staying in any one place or position will be ended for you, no matter how good you are.

But are most Americans changing job to stay ahead of the axe? Or do they wait for the cut and then, what become teachers and car salesmen?

[Anonymous]

DH got laid off at 44, he has Masters in Computer Science from UC Berkeley for reference. He started his own consulting, grosses between 600-800k annually.

Full disclosure, he is extremely driven, knowledgeable and disciplined. There’s no way I could ever work that much. He is 54 now and still going strong, the biggest thing is he doesn’t have to worry about layoffs etc. He knows others in tech who went into lucrative contracting roles after layoffs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH got laid off at 44, he has Masters in Computer Science from UC Berkeley for reference. He started his own consulting, grosses between 600-800k annually.

Full disclosure, he is extremely driven, knowledgeable and disciplined. There’s no way I could ever work that much. He is 54 now and still going strong, the biggest thing is he doesn’t have to worry about layoffs etc. He knows others in tech who went into lucrative contracting roles after layoffs.

He got in at the ground floor for tech boom and has loads of experience, probably worked at a dozen companies or a FAANG right? But what about the Cisco engineer who worked on their router firmware for 20 years and was laid off?

[Anonymous]

My brother is 48 and got laid off from Accenture in November 2023. His specialty was software testing and he got up to a junior management level. He got 5 months of severance from Accenture and is now collecting unmployment while drawing down his savings. He hasn't found another tech role yet. He is starting to consider leaving California, if he can get a tech job in another state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to make it to c-suite or just below in the giant corporations (with a track record of quantifiable results) to become a fractional c-suite consultant.

There is no coasting if you want to make it past 50 in a F100.

These companies are huge, but they all can’t become executives— what happens to most employees in their 50s ?

I only worked for 1 F100, plenty of IC with title senior manager in this age bracket. If you move up to director you need to manage staff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My brother is 48 and got laid off from Accenture in November 2023. His specialty was software testing and he got up to a junior management level. He got 5 months of severance from Accenture and is now collecting unmployment while drawing down his savings. He hasn't found another tech role yet. He is starting to consider leaving California, if he can get a tech job in another state.

n

He’s been unemployed 9 months!! I’m so sorry. That is exactly what I’m worried about. He didn’t have any clients that might hire him that he worked with or was in the solutions center and internal?

[Anonymous]

[img]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to make it to c-suite or just below in the giant corporations (with a track record of quantifiable results) to become a fractional c-suite consultant.

There is no coasting if you want to make it past 50 in a F100.

These companies are huge, but they all can’t become executives— what happens to most employees in their 50s ?

I only worked for 1 F100, plenty of IC with title senior manager in this age bracket. If you move up to director you need to manage staff.

What industry?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The federal govt is where you boomer go to die after 50

But that’s a DC thing. What do people do in Seattle, Austin, St Louis do when they have been pushed out at 50 from corporate America?

I tell my kids they have to keep moving from job to job, role to role — staying in any one place or position will be ended for you, no matter how good you are.

But are most Americans changing job to stay ahead of the axe? Or do they wait for the cut and then, what become teachers and car salesmen?

To be clear, lots of people make it past 50 in corporate America. This thread is a bit fatalistic. Age discrimination is real, but so is getting sued for age discrimination, and not everyone is a fossil at work at 50.

[Anonymous]

DH was laid off at 59 and retired. Does a tiny bit of consulting. He considers himself very lucky. He has 3 friends laid off in 50s who have never been able to get FT jobs again and it is financially devastating. 2 with wives trying to catch up career-wise but both had taken a break with kids so it’s tough. One divorced because of the situation and he is working at Costco. After working as a finance analyst.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH was laid off at 59 and retired. Does a tiny bit of consulting. He considers himself very lucky. He has 3 friends laid off in 50s who have never been able to get FT jobs again and it is financially devastating. 2 with wives trying to catch up career-wise but both had taken a break with kids so it’s tough. One divorced because of the situation and he is working at Costco. After working as a finance analyst.

You can’t be serious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH was laid off at 59 and retired. Does a tiny bit of consulting. He considers himself very lucky. He has 3 friends laid off in 50s who have never been able to get FT jobs again and it is financially devastating. 2 with wives trying to catch up career-wise but both had taken a break with kids so it’s tough. One divorced because of the situation and he is working at Costco. After working as a finance analyst.

DW family is in legacy tech (think Adobe, Cisco, etc) and we’re all laid off by 55. More never found another job and just retired — and they weren’t rich, just low to mid level engineers or product managers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH was laid off at 59 and retired. Does a tiny bit of consulting. He considers himself very lucky. He has 3 friends laid off in 50s who have never been able to get FT jobs again and it is financially devastating. 2 with wives trying to catch up career-wise but both had taken a break with kids so it’s tough. One divorced because of the situation and he is working at Costco. After working as a finance analyst.

DW family is in legacy tech (think Adobe, Cisco, etc) and we’re all laid off by 55. More never found another job and just retired — and they weren’t rich, just low to mid level engineers or product managers.

But we do know 3 people 30 years at Oracle, in mid level jobs so maybe that’s a good safe haven?