> I actually think that the ageism in tech is a result of it being a young industry. As more and more dev's go grey the problem will resolve itself.
Tell that to devs who worked in the dotcom boom, or the PC boom before that.
Tell that to devs who worked in the dotcom boom, or the PC boom before that.
I actual care more about the product and how it's built, the standard it is built to and the processes used to build and manage it.
Any manager that's worth working for still codes. Once they code no more they care more about process and profit.
Here's the important question: how many twenty- or thirty-something startup founders hear that and think "dinosaur who writes GOTO statements" (false), versus "awesome hacker who has been constantly seeking out the newest technologies for 30+ years" (true)?
Once again I say in a start up I want experience. I want developers that can deliver with minimal management and who GTD rather than work twice as long to deliver tightly coupled, dependency riddled, fashionable code.
Also another point to your comment. If the founders are 20 or 30 something, is that why they are only hiring 20 or 30 something developers. It's their contacts in their network, previous co-workers and friends. Perhaps the issue with start ups in that not that higher percentage are started by 45-50 somethings. Hence it would be interesting to see the split of developers ages compared to the co-founders age.