Hacker News Reader

Comment by DamnInteresting | Hacker News Reader

I have been in the webdev industry for 20+ years, always in high demand. I am reliable and good at what I do. I have never had trouble finding gainful employment...until 2022. I have been applying for jobs every day--jobs I am quite qualified for--and most of the potential employers don't respond at all. Those few that do respond mostly say "we are looking at other candidates, thanks anyway."

I have had a few companies reply to my applications with an "email interview" questionnaire, but after I reply I usually hear nothing back. One actually scheduled a video interview, but the day before it was to occur, they emailed to say nevermind, the position was filled.

It's so odd. Some of these job descriptions are an exact match for my skill set. I suspect that ageism is a major contributor given that I am over 40. I am starting to look into other industries, but it feels like such a waste to abandon my cultivated experience.

View on HN

A common mistake people over 40 make is list too much experience. This simultaneously sparks ageism, raises the "overqualified" flag and creates concerns about your ability to scope out irrelevant info.

Try removing the graduation year and limiting the experience to the last 5 years or so - you'll get much more replies off "cold" channels.

That said, using cold applications being 40+ is generally a bad idea. You need to be actively working on your network and relying on people that know you're good in order to get the foot in the door.

This is fantastic advice. One thing I worry about as someone who has switched lanes in their career is not building that network. I found my current job through cold approaches. I SHOULD find my next job through my personal network, but I don't event want to be in the same city so who knows

This is similar to what I went through over the last few months. I did land an offer, but it took over 70 applications. The only other time I had this much trouble was in 01 after the dotcom crash. I do think ageism plays a role. There was one interview in particular where I think the only reason I didn't get an offer was my age. However, I also think it's the economy contracting combined with too many devs on the market. Folks are still graduating from colleges and bootcamps and trying to enter the work force while hundreds of thousands of existing roles are disappearing. Unless a white swan event happens, a lot of people are going to have to consider a career change. I feel deep gratitude for having landed a position at a time like this and am buckling up for the next couple of years. I hope you land somewhere soon.

I’m mid-40s. 40 is such a mystical number. Almost immediately after I hit 40, interest in me dropped 95%.

I’ve interviewed at 4 places since, but I’m 0-4. That’s mostly my fault. I never adapted to the new style interviews. I still expect to show my experience and successes and walk out with an offer.

What are the new style interviews?

interviews you have to study for. Before the 2010s, every interview I went to took 2 hours. You had a meeting with the manager and one with the team. They’d decide pretty quickly and give an offer. simpler times. No hazing

Don't stew and get bitter over things that you can't control. Corollary: Don't assume it's ageism when you don't have proof and can't do anything about it anyhow.

More often than not, companies are not serious about hiring, or they are simply fulfilling an interview-to-hire ratio. They are going to behave badly throughout the interview process and sabotage themselves and you over dumb things - even dumber things than ageism. Hiring is absolutely the worst aspect of the tech business, rife with incompetence and lies.

You have to move on and keep hammering away anyhow. Hang in there.

Have you thought about removing the date you graduated from your degree and removing a few of your early jobs from your resume? You have 20+ years of experience... can you make it look like you have 10? Just to get an interview?

It is absolutely awful that you should have to do this. Starting a new career in web dev at 35 it is something that's on my mind quite often.

From my experience (technical interview specifically) fortunately we've never cared about that, and more about how the person approaches problem solving and how relevant their knowledge is related to the stack we're using. If this person is bringing valuable skills and it's not a jerk, I don't see why we should even care about their age. I think it really depends on what companies you're applying for, but the way I see it now, remote work is very beneficial because when working at an office people care more about who their gonna be hanging out with, and you know how that goes.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com