Is 40 the New 60? | Hacker News Reader

Is 40 the New 60?

neverworkintheory.org

21 pointspabs39 comments

I think he nailed it about the overtime bit.

It's harder to exploit a 40 year old than a 25 year old. Employers know that and prefer the younger worker.

I think it's more fundamental. Someone 40+ who is competent will call you out on your bullshit and has the gravitas that it will stick.

I often think that people give my opinions respect more because I am old than because I am competent.

> If my generation hadn't made tech such a toxic work environment by ensuring that people had little or no recourse when treated unfairly by employers, I'd be tempted to feel sorry for us.

Just for the record, that was not nearly unanimous.

I am 29, my only marketable skill is programming and I am incredibly scared of my future. I just don‘t see myself as manager. I live in Europe and we don‘t make enough money here as devs to retire early.

What‘s your advice?

At 33 as a director I felt the same way. Trust me, it’s not all that hard. Work on your people skills and if you don’t have those learn routines or templates on how to deal with the tens of situations you will encounter. Keep abreast of new technologies and feel free to say what you’re thinking in meetings even if you think it comes off as stupid or pedantic. Hire well and treat your directs with the utmost of respect. Immediately address insubordination. It’s a natural progression in many cases, don’t fight it.

I know people who are transitioning to DevOps/sysadmin as a result of seeing OpenAI Codex and GitHub Copilot appear.

A freely available copy of the referenced paper can be found here: https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2004/2004.05847.pdf

Everyone on my team is in the 35-45 bracket. We've been at the same shop for 5+ years. I think the unsaid thing is none of us are going to leave because we're all to old to be hired anywhere else.

I think he nailed it about the overtime bit.

It's harder to exploit a 40 year old than a 25 year old.

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