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.
Indeed we do.
Only if you're going down, not up...
Check your FReepmail.
odds are really high I’ll not last past 70 or so
Chin up, according to the actuary tables you've got another 25 years on the average.
(I'm assuming adding another 5 years of life to what you are expecting is a plus for you...)
Have you tried opening up a business lately?
I have. It is going and this year I might break even. Hire someone? I need to make a profit first.
Past forty in the business world you are old. They want a 20 year-old with a MBA and 30 years experience. < /slight sarcasm>
braggart
It's funny because it is true!
Btw, to mylife — my comments last night were pretty snotty. I was playing the role of uppity punk pretty exuberantly there. That was mostly internet braggadocio but my apologies if any of it crossed the line.
Oh! and BTW, what I see everyday is the young bucks roll in driving their BMW’s at 9 AM...9:30.. 10...
The old guys are there at 5:30 AM driving pickem up trucks that they used the night before to make a buck on the side.
No worries!
You did a superb job!
That was mostly internet braggadocio but my apologies if any of it crossed the line.
Of course it was, of course you did.
Not to worry, it was exactly what the thread needed. No harm, no foul, and no offense taken.
(I don't suppose your company is hiring old pharts, are they?)
Agreed. Much worse.
Besides, we’ve been that guy...
Believe me! I was that guy! I am that guy in my heart.
I am a proud of independent ops, but sometimes you need a hand, or just a second set of eyes to see where you are stuck.
I loved to put the boss or the instructor on the hot seat.
I loved that, until I became the boss or instructor.
Then I started looking at the notion of team building.
But quite frankly, I don’t have the belly for team building.
I still pop off at people But temper my tongue more nowadays LOL
It is what it is
I’m just an old punk LOL
Oh yeah. Me too.
I’ve managed to force some moderation into my words and actions. Still no luck on moderating my thoughts...
LOL
I am an old submariner and make a conscious effort to soften my words so as not to offend delicate ears, but sometimes things just blurt out.
Just the other week one of my co workers said, “You just dropped the F bomb 7 times in 30 seconds”
I said, Did you get the gist of what I was trying to convey?
Okay, good! :)
So, you go ahead and give up. Despite my pain, I'm hanging in there. And heaven help the ignoramus who tells me I'm old and should welcome "glory". You go ahead and welcome it for me. I'll just be hanging around waiting until I don't "want" to be here any more.
(no proselytizing, please). Peace be with you.
I don’t mean to be overly optimistic. I just don’t like the ‘victim’ sort of tone, you know?
*shrug* I’ve managed to get 3 interviews...
...in five years.
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