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Comment by underseacables | Hacker News Reader

I think conditions for older employees are getting worse. Teams are outsourced, either to younger people who work from home, or to other countries, making older remaining employees seem like an unnecessarily high cost.

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I'm late 50's, 35+ years professionally programming, mostly business software and ecommerce. I entertain at least one serious offer a month and numerous inquiries a week, none of which I intend to take but instead use as leverage for raises at my current position which I now have been at over 15 years. I have leveraged a 50% salary increase in the last 5 years. I am not a hard bargainer, just matching my estimated value. I am not in a big city. I work in an office.

I have outsourced coworkers that I tutor. They are almost universally pathetic at software development and are a net negative overall. I get the most done during the times upper management can't overlook the lack of progress on current projects and leave the offshore people to their own devices for a spell, or have fired them as we go through cycles of hiring and firing. Management just can't stop touching themselves thinking about those sub-minimum wage salaries but somehow never grasp you get what you pay for.

Want a job in software development?

- Love it for the work not the money. If you're in it for the money you'll never be good.

- Don't chase fads. I know little of crypto, web 3.0 (what version are we on now anyway?), javascript frameworks, and use AI sparingly. But I know programming and software development well enough to ace the little pointless tests they give in job interviews.

- Don't play games with getting hired. Use people not technology to find a better job. That means being presentable and personable and networking. Indeed is not networking it's a marketplace and you're the product.

Everyone has reasons not to attempt these things, but believe me when I say I can do it so can you. I have pretty good social anxiety but we're all bozos on this bus and I just keep that in mind at all times.

You’re lucky that your employer negotiates. I worked at a place that came back with: “oh, you looked for another job, so you are not happy here. We pay you what we think you’re worth and if you don’t agree, it sounds like you aren’t happy here anyway. Here’s a severance package, now go fuck off.” (Paraphrased).

It was their legit policy to fire you if you tried negotiating your salary.

I have 6 weeks of vacation which I never take more than 2 at a time at my employer's request because when I'm gone it's less than optimal. They are acutely aware of this. For the last 6 or 7 years we've had good metrics on developer productivity and error rates which also helps make my case. If they fired me I'd just take the position I was offered anyway.

True words of wisdom, thanks

> either to younger people who work from home

What, older people aren't allowed to work from home?

I don't know about in general, but in my environment people in the 25-40 range are the most common to work from home, and the most common to majorly profit from it.

Like the benefits you can get with working from home if you e.g. have a partner and children are much much larger in practice then when you are a single student. Through also the challenges you have to overcome to make working from home viable. With the main challenge being proper working from home needing more space (in general) at home which with high apartment prices isn't always easy.

I'm in a remote first company and my entire team is over 40.

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