Tech's Dark Secret, It's All About Age

theodp writes "Universities really should tell engineering students what to expect in the long term and how to manage their technical careers. Citing ex-Microsoft CTO David Vaskevitch's belief that younger workers have more energy and are sometimes more creative, Wadwha warns that reports of ageism's death have been greatly exaggerated. While encouraging managers to consider the value of the experience older techies bring, Wadwha also offers some get-real advice to those whose hair is beginning to grey: 1) Move up the ladder into management, architecture, or design; switch to sales or product management; jump ship and become an entrepreneur. 2) If you're going to stay in programming, realize that the deck is stacked against you, so be prepared to earn less as you gain experience. 3) Keep your skills current — to be coding for a living when you're 50, you'll need to be able to out-code the new kids on the block. Wadwha's piece strikes a chord with 50-something Dave Winer, who calls the rampant ageism 'really f***ed up,' adding that, 'It's probably the reason why we keep going around in the same loops over and over, because we chuck our experience, wholesale, every ten years or so.'"

Comments

Re:Experience is a Gift...

[0xdeadbeef]

Programming requires long nights staring blankly at mind-muddling objective languages.

Only for people who suck at it.

That's the way you bet

[g33z3r]

The average person's IQ declines with age. The only thing that has been shown to prevent this is cardiovascular exercise. This involves more pain as one ages, and things wear out, and testosterone declines, so people are less and less likely to stay in shape. Not *every* coder declines with age, but that's the way you bet, if you're management.

Re:Experience is a Gift...

[jcr]

Try being sexually harassed and discriminated against as a white male. Good luck with that - I hope you enjoy having your ass grabbed

If someone grabs your ass and you don't like it, tell them never to do it again. You only need to tell them once, because if it happens again, you're entirely justified in slapping them upside the head and saying "I told you not to do that. Try it again, and it will cost you some blood." The blood it costs can be financial or biological, your choice.

-jcr