Have you experienced ageism at work?
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Anonymous
I'm a 48-year-old women with a Ph.D. and a lifetime of career experience. I was fired for not being the right cultural fit, 3 months before I would have been 100% vested in my non-profit's 401K plan, and three days before my birthday. That's where all the 40 and 50-somethings are, fired, and starting their own businesses. |
Anonymous
Is it even legal to fire someone for not being from the right "culture"? This sounds as though you were treated very unfairly. Can you talk to someone as to whether you have any recourse? |
Anonymous
Agree, because most of that are older had to learn all technology the hard way. Nothing was user friendly and not much was googleable. So far the millennials have been not been ageist in my IT realm and are eager to share information. |
Anonymous
It's probably not legal. I just don't have the energy or time to spend on an EEOC complaint. I'm too busy wondering if I'll qualify for unemployment insurance benefits. |
Anonymous
Yep, my 70 year old father is far more tech savvy than I am. He started with punchcards, but could also tell you everything about computers and technology now. As a nearly middle aged person, however, I do hold contempt for the laziness and entitlement I've seen from 8 out of 9 millennials that have worked for me. |
Anonymous
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All the time. I'm a freelance journalist I lie about my age.
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Anonymous
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IN Virginia they can wake up one morning and fire you
Everyday when I go to work I is a crap shoot to see if I am fired and a couple h1bs show us I don’t know where you work that this is not the case for software and private industry |
Anonymous
When does age come up in your profession, and how has someone knowing your real age hurt you? What do you do about resume dates or dates on LinkedIn profile? |
Anonymous
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The ageism is structural, and institutional. In the (now gone) era in which people remained with the same employer for years, even decades, the concept of "paying your dues" was well-ingrained and accepted. People who had been around for a while were older and tended to be more skilled and well-schooled in the culture of the organization, knowledge that was valued all down the line.
In the present era, people work in one organization for 1 to 5 years and then tend to move on to another job. The pressure for employers is not to retain the best workers so much as to get the workers who can do the work best for the least cost for the limited time they are there. In these technology driven times, that often means younger people, perhaps not those right out of college, but workers, say, 26 to 40. They come in with some skills, are less likely to have children at home, and aren't yet at the age where they are running up big health insurance costs for the employer. These workers laugh at the idea of "paying your dues", or embrace it only in the sense that they understand they need to work a few crappy jobs before they get to the better jobs -- all at different employers. So why respect your elders when 1.) there aren't that many of them around, and 2.) your employer doesn't and 3.) you don't rely on them much for advancement in this new era. |
Anonymous
Tech companies demure from hiring someone all the time because of poor fit, they mean company culture, but really it means you aren’t a brogrammer |
Anonymous
| Yes, sometimes people say stuff. I'm 61 and have a millenial. I love millenials and their confidence. I would say people joke about old people not knowing tech stuff. |
Anonymous
Oldie but goodie: https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/2b4n7a/til_henry_ford_once_balked_at_paying_10000_to/ Also, a very interesting article: https://medium.com/@garywiz/five-things-old-programmers-need-to-remember-e78caf0b0973 |
Anonymous
Not the PP, but literally everything PP posted applies to me as well, except I'm 38, not 37. And I'm curious about the point of your questions, so I'll answer them: 1) Yes. 2) Yes. 3) 3 and 7 4) 4 jobs 5) Married 10 years |
Anonymous
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I am 52, the oldest of the Gen Xers. In my office, I am one of the 3-4 oldest on my project at NASA (a robotic satellite servicing mission). I am also the system administrator for the team. Although I don't know much about the satellite hardware, when it comes to the computers, hardware and network, I am the resident authority. I've been with NASA for 25 years and I am one of the more experienced IT people around here. At NASA, there are very few people under 30 who have the experience to be senior staff. All of the leading engineers, scientists, IT specialists (including network, system and infrastructure) are all north of 30, most of whom are north of 40. Aerospace and IT here are very complicated and it takes experience to keep things straight, not just intelligence. The younger IT folks are good with software development, programming, and basic engineering, but NASA values experience. Frankly the majority of the people in technical fields were the cream of the crop when they were younger and all are bright including some truly brilliant people in their fields. The experience makes a huge difference.
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Anonymous
| My friend has at 40-something in sales. She has not been directly threatened but many of her coworkers have been threatened or fired. It’s sad because they aren’t fired because they aren’t selling. It’s because the president truly believes the younger sales people can do the same level of work for less money. Or that he can get the seasoned people to make the sale, fire them right before it closes, and improve his bottom line. |