Older software engineers often report that once they lose their current job, they can’t get new jobs and that this is because of rampant agism, others report this is not true, and it’s you in particular that sucks, or you’re seeing selection effects because most of the good ones get forced into management or start their own companies. It’s certainly not universal, but my sense is that many underestimate the downside risk of this outcome.
I am approaching 50. I can still find a job, but recently I notice that I am often the oldest developer at the workplace, and that makes me kinda nervous. People say that becoming a manager is the answer; I don’t think it is a realistic option for a (self-diagnosed) aspie with ADHD, I am basically the opposite of the kind of person that I think is needed for that job. In find the workplace extremely distracting, these days open spaces are everywhere; in the past I learned new technologies at home during weekends, but now that I have small kids this is no longer an option. I don’t have enough savings to retire, though I might be about halfway there (that depends on various assumptions).
I don’t think that high compensation is the actual problem. I have tried working at companies that offered less, and it didn’t make a difference; in my opinion the companies paid less because they were worse at selling their products, not because the work was less demanding. The correlation actually seems to be the other way round: stingy companies are trying to squeeze every bit of energy from their employees (who are often afraid to change jobs, because they believe that if they can barely do this, they wouldn’t be able to handle a better paying work).
The advantage of hiring young people is that in a year, many of them become much better at their work, and half of them sucks at negotiation, so they won’t notice that now they could get paid twice as much. Some of them won’t even mind working unpaid overtime. If you hire an old person, what you get on day 1 is all there is.
There ‘aint no rule’ that PornHub videos need to be porn
My wife is a fan of opera, and she told me that she surprisingly often finds opera videos on porn sites. Not sure if this is because of better paying per view, or simply because the guardians of copyright focus their attention on YouTube and ignore the other parts of the internet.
I am approaching 50. I can still find a job, but recently I notice that I am often the oldest developer at the workplace, and that makes me kinda nervous. People say that becoming a manager is the answer; I don’t think it is a realistic option for a (self-diagnosed) aspie with ADHD, I am basically the opposite of the kind of person that I think is needed for that job. In find the workplace extremely distracting, these days open spaces are everywhere; in the past I learned new technologies at home during weekends, but now that I have small kids this is no longer an option. I don’t have enough savings to retire, though I might be about halfway there (that depends on various assumptions).
I don’t think that high compensation is the actual problem. I have tried working at companies that offered less, and it didn’t make a difference; in my opinion the companies paid less because they were worse at selling their products, not because the work was less demanding. The correlation actually seems to be the other way round: stingy companies are trying to squeeze every bit of energy from their employees (who are often afraid to change jobs, because they believe that if they can barely do this, they wouldn’t be able to handle a better paying work).
The advantage of hiring young people is that in a year, many of them become much better at their work, and half of them sucks at negotiation, so they won’t notice that now they could get paid twice as much. Some of them won’t even mind working unpaid overtime. If you hire an old person, what you get on day 1 is all there is.
My wife is a fan of opera, and she told me that she surprisingly often finds opera videos on porn sites. Not sure if this is because of better paying per view, or simply because the guardians of copyright focus their attention on YouTube and ignore the other parts of the internet.