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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]A lot of people complain about this, but the problem is straightforward. By the time most employees are 50, they are expensive and their skills are dated. As for expense, they want a lot of money and time off, and the subsidy business pays for their healthcare is out of sight. As for skills, most people let them atrophy. Basically, if you’re 50 and not a senior manger/C-suite/rainmaker, you are likely to be let go. If you are super-capable on the technical front, you may still be let go, but can probably get consulting work, but that’s it. The other alternatives are government jobs, retirement, take something below your last pay grade, or work on a passion project. [/quote]

That’s ridiculous. I’m just as a capable as 28 year old who easily make $200k at most corporations and roles.

Most “skills” these days are so much simpler and more automated than when we were staring out, I learned python in a weekend, it’s basically the baby psuedocode they taught us before we had to learn a lower level language (where you dealt with memory addresses and trash collection on your own).  [b]There is a whole world of virtualization and other tools to build on, but a random 50 year old is at least as capable as a random 28 year old.[/b]

It comes down to people don’t like managing people older than themselves. Sort of like how some people don’t like working with women or different races. [/quote]

I’m a software developer that’s pushing 60.  In my experience the vast majority of older developers actually can’t outperform a 28 year old.  That’s someone with 6+ years of experience out of college.  They’re generally quite competent as they’ve learned some real skills.  They might not have a lot of breadth, but are generally very proficient in what they’ve been asked to do.  I love computer science and software development so I spend a lot if time learning new skills and keeping up to date, but most older developers don’t.[/quote]

I didn't claim to outperform, but I have no doubt that the average matches the average.  First off, you have survivor bias filter -- the ones who made it to 50 are people who have proven they can actually do the job, not just people who happened to major in the hot industry and used some relatives connections to land a job.  Second, theres more than just raw technical ability to being a competent contributor -- and a mature worker will again have seen it all and hopefully avoid pitfalls.  Third, you know they won't be chomping at the bit to get promoted to manager or whatever -- they have already shown their preference to stay at the IC level in the coding dirt.

I agree, if you have someone who refuses to switch tools or paradigms ("in my day, we hand coded in assembly and we liked it"), sure that might not be a good fit.  But if they have the skills on their resume, even having a portfolio of work products, they still won't get an interview 9 times out of 10.  And that is because we as a society are uncomfortable with old people by and large.[/quote]

Our society only wants 35-39 year olds.
22-35 you are not experienced.
Over 40 you are old.[/quote]

Not if you are a physician. My DH is finally making $500k at age 50 and plans to retire at 70.
[/quote]

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