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Comment by jonplackett | Hacker News Reader

Define ‘old’.

How young counts as old in tech these days?

A recruiter from a prominent SF / Silicon Valley tech headhunting firm once told me that 40 is the cutoff for individual contributors.

As a counterpoint, I know plenty of over-40 (and older!) wise software engineers working for places like Google. So maybe the discrimination is worse at someplace like Uber?

Personally, I value age diversity on a team, just as I value gender, ethnic, etc. diversity. The added perspectives benefit everyone!

> A recruiter from a prominent SF / Silicon Valley tech headhunting firm once told me that 40 is the cutoff for individual contributors.

That fits perfectly because 40 is when age discrimination becomes illegal: https://www.eeoc.gov/age-discrimination

You should report that headhunting firm.

> I know plenty of over-40 (and older!) wise software engineers working for places like Google.

yes, but at what age were they hired? and at what level are they working?

That statement could be illegal.

Not could be. Is.

I'm only a few years off 40. I have no plans to be anything other than an IC and think I'm much better now than I ever was. Personally I've only seen developers get better with age. Sure some are old and cranky but they are generally correct too.

LOL heard how expensive engineers with > 5 years of experience are... So I guess > 27 is old!

I hope/believe that this is getting higher with time. Worldwide, programming as a full-time profession only blew up 15-20 years ago. There will be an increasing mass of aged IT people, and career paths will be fleshed out in parallel - the same had happened with all modern-age jobs, like racecar drivers or professional bodybuilders.

The greater of 30 or <3 years younger than however old a disgruntled engineer is>.

36. (months of exp)

pretty sure old these days means you remember dial up modem noises better than whatever music was on the charts at the time.

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