I think that's a bit funny that the author implies you can't be good as a manager at 28. Specially when you are writing an article about bias.
Or alternatively, what does it say about people who have seen this culture for 4 years and are still there?
Eventually, you just find the biggest pay cheque you can, and do the routine of putting on your coconut headphones, sit down at your tiki desk and chair and sip your mochas in peace as you wait for the morning calisthenics meeting to begin, wondering what exactly the difference between waterfall, agile, tdd, etc actually is because all you've ever seen anywhere is tiki driven development.
Young managers (and I used to be one too) are the worst part of the startup culture, people with no training, inclination or predisposition for people management making others unproductive and ruining careers.
As a sector we should think hard about how we're handling ourselves because there will be nothing left a few years from now if we don't start working for the long run.
Just replace age descriptions with race descriptions to see how weird and out of place that is.
> She was white, had been with the company for four years, and was told without explanation by her latino manager that she had two weeks to get out.
Age implies obsoleteness and poor health. (I can stereotype too!)
However, it's the matter of how strong that causation is and how hard are you going to rely on it. Because if you think that someone in their 30s is likely to be be significantly more experienced and wise, it also means that you should think that someone in their 50s is likely to be significantly burned out and slow.
My point is: the correlation (and underlying causation) is there, but it's not strong enough, compared to differences between individuals.
How is that in any way a sound analogy? Your age likely has an impact on your experience. More experience doesn't necessarily mean you're better at your job but it's a decent possibility. Race has no impact on performance at all.
Obviously nobody is going to discount a manager because of their race, but on that same coin people shouldn't discount the same individual because of their age.
[Edit] Don't know about other states.
At 28 you have more experience than a 18 year old, but not much and def not enough to be able to relate to a 35 year old person in most cases.
So not sure I find it ironic. Rather I can relate as I have seen my share of managers and been myself for the last 22 years.
And yes older managers have problems too :)
Having been through and been humbled by many life experiences means I can show more empathy and understanding. On the other hand there are many very switched on young people, so like always we should ignore age and judge people on their merits.
Having some life experience (kids, marriage, taking care of older parents, etc.) helps to empathize with people - which makes you a better manager.
>UNFORTUNATELY, working at a start-up all too often involves getting bossed around by undertrained (or untrained) managers and fired on a whim. Bias based on age, race and gender is rampant, as is sexual harassment.