Yesterday I came across this impressive video: Ability is ageless, and want to share some thoughts here.
I don’t know about other countries, whereas in China, ageism does exist more or less in software companies. I have read some stories and news about elder engineers who were laid off without convinced reasons. Employers think the elder employees have families and want more work-life balance, so they won’t work over-time without complaint like fresh graduates. Furthermore, the elder engineers are harder to manage than freshmen. I even read a job description which was like this: we don’t welcome the applicants who are older than 30, since they will lack innovation.
Regarding myself, I am 35 years old. 10 years ago, in January, 2008, I left school and got my first full-time job. In fact, currently I don’t reduce my working time in a week compared with 10 years ago. The experience accumulated in past 10 years is literally very precious, and I can ulitize it to help other younger colleagues. Besides this, I don’t come to a standstill, and keep to make my hands dirty on new fields in computer science which I didn’t touch before, wrtie blogs and tutorials, and take part in technology meetups and conferences actively. At least in my opinion, I become more mature and valuable accompanied with older age.
Ability must be ageless, and it is what I want to say.
I really appreciate this post, and your pointing out that video. In our world of capitalism and hyper competition this myth that only the young can bring any real impact is poisonous. I am 32 and I used to buy into the myth. I felt like a failure after I didn’t become a tech millionaire by 25. Culture needs to change globally. Young people bring a lot to the table, but the experienced bring quite a bit as well. The notion that our ability suddenly drops off at a certain age boundary is something I want removed from the future I want to live in.