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[quote=Anonymous]I've been at my job for three years, and I can honestly say, I don't know the ages of my co-workers. I kind of have them grouped in my mind- the you get crowd twenties to early thirties, "my age" - thirties to late 50s/early sixties), and older workers, who seem to fall mid fifties to older, depending on their mind set (ie. Putting in time until retirement or working with the rest of the pack).

The thing about age is it only becomes an issue if you let it. I started in my industry very young... 19 years old and fresh out of school. A LOT of people took me under their wings, and I made some wonderful friends and mentors who were over double my age at the time. These have become some of the most important people in my network, and indeed, in the development of my career. Almost 20 years on, some of those people still call me "kiddo".

The key here is this : even from then, I just did my job and did it well. These people, despite my age, had to take highly technical info and judgement from me. They may have called me kiddo, but I always respected that they didn't treat me that way. And it's something, as I've moved on, I try to think about in how I treat people.

Firstly, you should never expect to have friends at work. I usually avoid it when I can, but certainly some relationships will form over the years. What you should do it be friendly with everyone you work with, even if you don't "fit" in.

Get over your age and just do your job. Do it well. Worry less about the fact that you're embarrassed and do more to focus that energy in doing a stellar job. If you're new, it takes time.

There's two ways you can further your career: stepping on people, or being a mentor and leader to those around you. I've always done the second, and it's worked out very well for me. Teach anyone you are supervising your job, which affords you time to learn new things and take on more challenging tasks.

I JUST noticed you're in an RN role. And in this, believe me, having life experience behind you will help you deal with many of the terrible things you are about to see and deal with. And this is hardly a climbing to the top role, as it's going to be attitude, competence, and the like that will get you up into role of nurse manager. Take the bull by the horns. Be the first to offer assistance if someone is having trouble with sterile technique, or catheterization or getting an NG tube in. Be a mentor. Focus on improving your own skills.

Also focus on your self. It seems you may have esteem issues, and that can delay promotion into a role that requires decision making and authority. Authority doesn't come magically with age, it comes from knowing that what you do, you do it will. It comes from being able to make decisions rant require confidence. It requires teaching people and having try confidence that you are prepping them for your job, so you can move even further up. It doesn't sound like you're there yet. [/quote]

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