We don't ask on the application form if people have kids, nor as far as I can recall have we asked anyone in an interview. The reason most of the people we fund don't have kids is simply that most of the people who apply don't have kids.
how do you know if you don't ask?
From a lot of unfortunate experience: tech people suck at following these rules.
You could see what neighborhood someone lives in because that will also be typically included on a resume too. Why would you hire someone who can't even put their street address on their resume? Sure, a street address doesn't have much significance to /most/ hiring decisions, although if you knew a candidate would have a 100 mile commute each day, choosing someone who lived around the corner would make a lot of sense if the job required call-out or easy access to the office.
And so it goes. You'll see someone's race at interview. You can probably even figure out if someone's married (presence of a ring). It seems crazy to make it illegal to ask these questions. Instead, it should be law that it's optional for the candidate to ANSWER them.
Isn't every question optional? It's not like you go to jail if you don't answer a question. It's not a good strategy, but AFAIK it is legal
That opens another can of worms. Any refusal to answer implies something to hide, which would be an immediate red flag.
I mean, women do it all the time.
What I'm asking is, one reasonable person to another, what possible reason could you have for wanting to know the age of an applicant? It is legal to ask if a candidate can legally work full time for you. Why would you ask anything more?
I have no idea how you could possibly say "No it doesn't".
It is probably true that people with more fiduciary responsibilities have more to think about when taking the plunge, but that is a tautology. People with more responsibility have more responsibility.
My point is that even if you have a house, cars, kid(s), student loans, etc. you can do it. It just takes a bit of planning a maybe a little help from your friends & family.