Posted on 10/26/2012 8:50:06 PM PDT by null and void
We all know it’s out there. Lingering. Waiting to impede. Still, I wasn’t expecting it for at least another five years. I’ve heard it hits women earlier than men, but now, already? And on my birthday, too. Ouch.
When having coffee with a long-time friend, who also happened to be one of my first managers, an open position at her company came up in conversation. She and I have maintained a good relationship since I worked for her back in the 1990s. We make an effort to follow each other’s careers, even though we haven’t worked together in more than 15 years.
She wondered if I knew of anyone for the job and said: “We’re looking for someone just like you, who can do all you can do, except young.”
Excuse me? I pointed out that at just having blown out the candles on my 35th birthday cake, I am young, or at least on the younger side. Certainly not “old.”
Now, I have to admit, I had watched some Matlock that morning, I knew there was a storm coming because of some knee pain, and, yeah, the photo run with this blog was taken many moons ago when I was, by most definitions, young. But old, no -- Not over the hill, not stuck in my ways, not without the spirit and attributes many assign to youth: ability to learn quickly, willingness to experiment with new ideas and to conform with new corporate cultures, freshly educated, and up on the latest processes.
Had I turned 35, 45, 65, or 85, was not the point. These attributes are not defined by one’s age on a driver’s license but by mindset and dedication to one’s career.
My friend’s reply was short but not sweet: “You’re old. Get over it.”
My coffee had turned bitter and so had I. If she wanted someone who could do all I could do, she wanted someone with more than a decade’s worth of experience. You don’t get that in a 20 year old.
Just a few years after I had worked with this woman and in between full time jobs, I worked with a career strategist and wrote resumes for some very experienced people. “Mask their experience level,” I remember being told because, although this was sugarcoated, age discrimination exists. If you list 20 years of experience on a resume, it’s presumed the candidate is either at too high a salary level or out of touch -- just plain old.
In the time since this blog’s headshot was taken, I’ve been honing my craft, solving problems, working with engineers and other editors on a daily basis to grow my experience, and become a more well-informed force than would have been possible when I started my career.
Unfortunately, we live in a world of Mark Zuckerbergs, where the flashiest new idea often comes from someone not old enough to remember the Reagan years, let alone be born before them. These shining stars are allotted tremendous power and influence over industries. I’m scratching my head, gray hairs and all, and wondering why.
Why value the inexperience and ignorance that often accompanies youth? Why not hold higher the experience, knowledge, and sharpened creativity that only comes from decades in a field?
There are plenty of smart young guns out there who deserve respect. We at EDN often make efforts to bring the next generation of engineers along and encourage them to make the commitment to engineering that develops into 20, 30, or more years in a career. But for the current generation of engineers, it’s a disturbing fact that age discrimination undervalues know-how and insults the importance of careers and ingenuity.
Sickeningly, I suspect many reading this have been the victim of age discrimination in some form or another. Even in such a minor brush as experienced over this birthday coffee, age discrimination hinders the ability to share experience and knowledge. Ultimately, that dampens the strength of employees and weakens the field of engineering.
We’ve had two high-level members of the electronics industry announce plans to retire in recent weeks after long, stellar careers that made massive contributions to electronics: TI’s Gene Frantz, who you can read about here, and Avnet’s Roy Vallee, who we spoke with a few weeks ago.
Vallee pointed out in the interview with EDN that careers are marathons, not sprints. Honor and recognize those who run the marathon over decades, who have proved their strengths and dedication to engineering and design, not just those starting the race.
LOL!
Yup. The older I get, the older “old” gets.
And he probably pronounced it "soll-der" or "soul-der." I've heard things such as, "I need to weld these wires together. Do you have any soll-der?" Or, "Does that soll-der stuff work on plastic and wood?" Or, "I'm having trouble nailing this screw through this piece of wood."
“60 is the new 40. Really.”
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Dude, I hear that actually 70 is the new 40!
The rule of 65 says dropped prepositions, typing errors, creative spelling, grammatical miscues and are all ok in casual web posts by a hurried writer over 65.
LOL! That's what I do to. I've sold two and am working on the third just because I like to do it.
My "kids" are smart enough to appreciate the experience and guidance - and they can learn about ownership.
The best bosses I ever had were old guys that owned the Company.
Eh-eh-eh-eh-eh-eh-eh....
Early next year for me.
**************
Of old.
eddie willers ~ Worst sign of growing old is forgetting prepositions.
Nahhh, the worst is missing propositions...
Yeah. I live here. No shortage of that type in my fair valley.
I'd move in a heartbeat.
Been there, done that, twice in the last 5 years.
Guess what?
Getting funding as an old phart isn't easy either.
Your 20 something bank manager and your 30 something vulture venture capitalist only want to fund "recent college graduates"...
Hey!
That's me!!!
Were do I send my resume?
History is filled with 20-something wunderkinds who invented the huge whiz-bang and completely failed at marketing it (*cough* Steve Jobs *cough*). At that age you are very good at throwing 100% focus at some particular thing and making something very creative and amazing, particularly when what you are doing is a complete game changer.
As you get older, you get more systemic. You think of the bigger picture, game things out more, backthink better, anticipate, connect the dots, and strategize. You do equally amazing things, but on a more system wide or process scale. It takes time to get that vision.
I see this at my own job. The young bucks don’t think they know what I’m doing because they are quicker and faster at the basic skills and can churn things out faster. They suck at the process though and the quality angle. No follow thru, they want to bounce around to the glory stuff and don’t get that the whole process determines the finished product, a product that demands a very tight tolerance on quality.
A mix of ages in a work situation is good. If you can get that kind of team to work together, you can do some amazing things.
Really?
Do people drive Matlab cars or steel cars?
Do they fly in airplanes built by CAE or BAE?
The simulation isn't the reality...
They know how to use matlab,
did a double take on that statement, then adjusted my bi focals
First laugh of the day
*ouch*
Morphine is lovely stuff. I was on it for a few days after my pancreas exploded.
At least now I fully 'get' how someone could become an addict!
For now, Boxer, it counts for now.
Got glue?
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