Slashdot Mirror
Median Age At Google Is 29, Says Age Discrimination Lawsuit
dcblogs writes: The typical employee at Google is relatively young, according to a lawsuit brought by an older programmer who is alleging age discrimination. Between 2007 and 2013, Google's workforce grew from 9,500 to more than 28,000 employees, "yet as of 2013, its employees' median age was 29 years old," the lawsuit claims. That's in contrast to the median age of nearly 43 for all U.S. workers who are computer programmers, according to the lawsuit.
Last I knew it was common for old programmers to not bother learning new tech. Given Google's preference for next generation technologies, what use would they have for obsolete programmers?
If you're too obsolete for Google and refuse to do something about it, go work in the defense, automotive, or some other industry known to have a new technology adoption lag.
Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once
I would hire a young kid over an old person any day. Young kids can be molded to do what you want. Old people are stubborn and bitter. They will show up on time and leave on time. They want their health coverage. They won't learn anything knew, and they will demand respect that (they think) they've earned through experience, but rarely does this experience translate into anything resembling productivity.
For every old self taught programmer who thinks they are a genius, there is some new grad who is just as smart, willing to put more effort into everything they do, and willing to learn new things.
Most of the new grads we hire at my company turn out really well. Most of the old people we hire either can't actually write any code, or they can only write code (but only in their preferred language) and can't be bothered to learn or follow prescribed design patterns or coding standards.
I felt like your generalization needed a counter generalization.