Reply to S/O Ageism-proof professions/industries?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Tech isn't inherently ageist, IMO.  It's a field that:

1) is fast paced
2) rewards current skills
3) rewards demonstrable output

As we age (myself included), fewer of us have the energy or inclination to meet those criteria.  Hell, I didn't want to keep pace with emerging tech 5 years into my career, let alone 20.  Layer on top of that the demands of middle-age - families, aging parents, life in general - and there's a disconnect between the demands of the industry and what some aging people are able to deliver.

There are PLENTY of 50, 60, 70 year olds in tech.  But, as a percentage, they drop off over time because of the above.[/quote]

This is text book lawsuit evidence for age discrimination.[/quote]

Yeah, no it's not.[/quote]

You are listing those qualities which do not just apply to young people. Many older people are high energy, especially with GenZ prioritizing “chill”, many older people have current skills (they are in the industry, how could they not?), and demonstrating output is something you measure AFTER hiring someone.

Yet you offer it up a to why younger employees are “better suited”[/quote]

Nope.  The tech industry hires for those qualities.  I'm simply recognizing the reality that those qualities tend to fade as workers age.  Exceptions exist and they are the ones who keep their jobs.[/quote]

How do our even measure those qualities in your hiring process?  The only remotely measurable one would be current skills, and that is pretty common for current employees to be trained on the current technologies and skills; if anything programming and technology has so much more automation and abstraction that most of it is much less complicated to learn.
[/quote]

You can often get a sense for how fast somebody can run during an interview, but the current skills is the easiest as you said.  It's post hiring where all these characteristics really come to light.  For people who can't keep up (regardless of age, obviously) or doesn't produce at an appropriate pace, we give them support and coaching as much as we can, but they often eventually guided to the door.

Again, I think the industry is actually age agnostic.  If you can meet the demands of the role, it's all yours.  The "greybeards" (which highlights the probably bigger issue of sexism in tech) are revered and respected.  But my point is that the reality of life is that most of us slow down as we age, either because we're physically tired, distracted by the demands of life, or (appropriately) decide that there's more to this existence than being at the top of our professional game.  And that has an impact on employability.

I should note that this is hardly exclusive to tech.  It's less that tech is ageist and more than there are only a few industries that aren't (to the OP's point).  Find an industry that's knowledge based and doesn't change much or quickly.  Law, accounting, engineering... there aren't many.

[/quote]
You are spot on. I don’t know why PP can’t understand it.

[/quote]

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