Hey, this is the Daily Overpass! My name is Eric and I make apps!
Now today, I want to talk about Ageism in Software Development.
Alright, so today, I want to respond to a comment that came in earlier this week
from Bill Seminoff who said, "Eric, here's a topic: Do you think ageism exists in
software? I would be interested to know your perspective having played both
sides." Now, first of all, what do you mean having played both sides, Bill? You
think I'm old, righ?t Now I know the right answer to this because we all
watch the news and we know that, yes, ageism does exist in software. But I see
both sides of it. I see people just coming up, they're young, they're in their
early 20s and they don't have the experience that they find it really hard
to get a job. And I see people who they're very seasoned, they're very
highly paid, they're working for something like when I was working
in investment banks worked with people in their 50s or the 60s they've been
doing the same thing for 20 years and they've been let go when they find it
really hard to find a job right and both sides complain about it there's there's
different things there but it's something I haven't experienced myself
very much part of the reason is because I run my own company and I started doing
my own thing but I do know that there are different benefits to both sides of
things right if you hire somebody who's who's more senior like much older as a
software developer you can expect to pay a lot more which is which is difficult I
mean especially if it's a start-up or something like that but one of the
things that I know when I go for a job and when I was going for a job in my in
my 40s I would market myself different than somebody younger would do because I
talk a lot about the security aspects of it the safety you know like you can't go
wrong hiring somebody with experience I've made all the all the wrong
decisions in the past all that kind of stuff
right but if I was younger I would be talking about how you know I just I came
up in the age of Internet yeah I've always been this way yeah I've been
doing it since I was a little kid all that kind of stuff so it really is if
you've ever read the book positioning you know how a lot of marketing is how
you position yourself it's how you position your app it's how you position
everything and if you're going for a job interview
sometimes you're you're advancing years I should say you should be talking more
about about these the benefits and the security that you have
you know the years of experience I mean the reality is let's say you're going
for a job in react native react native has only been around for what five years
has it even been five years so you're not gonna say I have 20 years experience
I've been I've been a software developer for 20 years and it's all been in in
react native because that doesn't really make sense however having had that
experience you know what it's like to have different problems with networks
with different systems you know about working with legacy systems everything
you're more well-rounded package and you're a much safer bet when it comes to
hiring you over hiring someone who's young who's gonna go through and make
all the same mistakes you made at an early stage problems with error handling
you're making mistakes be having bugs in all this kind of stuff so and that's
something you could do I will tell you that when I go for a job interview and
it's been a few years since I have I'm it's been about 6 6 8 years something
like since I have but I would always talk about my experiences in an
investment bank so it's all mostly about experience and less about potential if
you're younger you're talking about more about potential and what you can do and
the latest technologies so I know Bill you asked about my opinion on it that's
my opinion I don't I have a really experience very much with ageism I know
that when people hire me they're looking for somebody with more experience
they're looking for things to be done right the first time and and I see it as
an asset rather than than that but is also I mean one of the things when I see
somebody who's when I see somebody who's been a software developer and they're
they're in their early 60s late 50s I do think a lot about you know how skilled
are they are they actually improving their skills as they go and are they
staying marketable because staying marketable is what the game is all about
and you always in this in this racket in technology you you have to be seasoned
you have to be experienced but you always have to know what's coming so
how's that for a roundabout answer anyway let me know what you guys think
have you experienced ageism and software and that is it for today I will talk to
you guys again tomorrow