I'm 19 and I previously worked for Sun Microsystems and now work for a pre-IPO company with major clients under its thumb such as IBM, Sun, Netscape, and more. I have more experience then a lot of other people with higher salaries but because of my age I get paid the minimum for my position. Companies just assume that due to me being so young they have a right to pay me less. I am a top performer so it isn't that I just assume my lower salary is due to my age. When I was first interviewing for jobs I got a lot of people saying "We are looking for someone more senior". I would ask them how they see me as junior and they would change the subject. I would bet money that they ended up hiring some older guy with one fifth the experience. When they see someone who is 19 they think "Probably took some community college courses and thinks he can get a job." What they don't realize is that I have been programming since I was 8. The person they hired probably didn't know how to use a mouse until he was in his twenties in college. Of course my skill was so obvious that I was able to get my foot into the industry regardless of my age but why should I have to swim against the current just because of my age? You want to know something... it has made me a very strong swimmer.. so watch out Mr. Suit and Tie, doogie howser of tech is going to steal your office.
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I'm 19 and I previously worked for Sun Microsystems and now work for a pre-IPO company with major clients under its thumb such as IBM, Sun, Netscape, and more. I have more experience then a lot of other people with higher salaries but because of my age I get paid the minimum for my position. Companies just assume that due to me being so young they have a right to pay me less. I am a top performer so it isn't that I just assume my lower salary is due to my age. When I was first interviewing for jobs I got a lot of people saying "We are looking for someone more senior". I would ask them how they see me as junior and they would change the subject. I would bet money that they ended up hiring some older guy with one fifth the experience. When they see someone who is 19 they think "Probably took some community college courses and thinks he can get a job." What they don't realize is that I have been programming since I was 8. The person they hired probably didn't know how to use a mouse until he was in his twenties in college. Of course my skill was so obvious that I was able to get my foot into the industry regardless of my age but why should I have to swim against the current just because of my age? You want to know something... it has made me a very strong swimmer.. so watch out Mr. Suit and Tie, doogie howser of tech is going to steal your office.