Comment by kerryfalk | Hacker News Reader

Comment by kerryfalk | Hacker News Reader

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I, too, am short. I'm 5'6". I have always worked on teams with people much older than me (seems like a 15-20 year average). When I was in my early 20s and in sales selling high dollar value equipment I recognized that my age wasn't going to help. It took a few moments to dispel that once I began talking with someone as I just needed to overcome the view that I was inexperienced (As that would be associated with my age). It definitely did not hold me back and I'm fairly sure that if I lost a deal it was because of something other than my height.

We all face challenges and each are unique to us.

I meet a lot of people and I don't know anyone who would actively discriminate against someone short. I read through the article and based on it alone I got the sense that these challenges my stem from within the author rather than something external. I didn't read an examples of a situation that you'd reason resulted due to his height. Just interpretations.

"Ultimately, your greatest competition is yourself." - Guy Kawasaki

>We all face challenges and each are unique to us.

Completely random musing, but it reminded me of my height being disadvantageous when in perspective:

I'm a pretty tall guy, a little above 6'4", and have an extremely large reach --

Also a pretty avid rock climber. I can rarely climb at my gym without someone commenting about how it must be so nice to be able to just "reach" for all the holds. Ignoring the fact that I probably weigh 30 more pounds than my sub 6' climber buddies, most route setters at our gym are probably closer to 5'10" and set/grade the routes accordingly; I often end up using sub-optimal (and tiring) form on the "crux" of the route as I end up cramped together awkwardly.

Agreed. That nice rest everyone gets on a "perfect" knee bar, just doesn't work for the taller people.

Rock climbing strength doesn't scale with weight. And tendon strength which is so important develops so slow. After crimping on tiny holds so many times, I don't really want to hear about how my height is an advantage in climbing. Every once in a while you get to reach past the small holds to a nice big jug, but the rest of the time you're carrying the extra weight.

I'm a sports-climber my-self (around 5'10" and average I guess). What people forget is that as length increases in two dimensions, weight increases in three. Also the top climbers tends to be sub 5'10", but idk, it's all about having fun and compete against yourself!

I suspect he wasn't skilled in overcoming his appearance and projecting himself yet.

I had a similar experience to yours, perhaps, but in engineering. Most of my coworkers were at least 25 years older (and one good friend calls me grandson). It took a while to learn to project "I know what I'm talking about and can prove it" without coming off as pretentious. And I've had people note the change.

Perhaps like your experience, I've learned to establish myself quickly, and if I lose face it's certainly not because of my age.

... The first time. I've been very careful to be cautious, since it can easily _become_ a problem. In a management group, it's easy to lose face fast if someone doesn't follow a nuanced argument (which is admittedly a rookie mistake in such a setting). Then you're scrambling to correct the spoken typo and your already lost. I'm usually bull-headed enough that's not a problem, but meekness can be a stumbling block, and I suspect that may have tripped up the author (or perhaps perceived meekness of eager youth?), and that fear alone can pressure a person into feeling unfairly judged.

Just my $2.00 on playing devil's advocate.

> In a management group, it's easy to lose face fast if someone doesn't follow a nuanced argument (which is admittedly a rookie mistake in such a setting)

Do you mean, making a nuanced argument is a rookie mistake, or not following one?

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