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Comment by bkessler100 | Hacker News Reader

Exactly. They ask for age in their application and not gender or race.

Not a YC partner, but I help review apps... when I look at age, it's not so that I can discriminate based on it, it's so that I can see how impressive a person's accomplishments are in light of how much time they've had to achieve them.

The problem is that this can be very skewed, especially for younger people by their economic background.

For example, I know of someone that changed careers into the tech industry in his mid-30s. He should not be disadvantaged because he entered into the industry later than peers.

Additionally, I can think of countless examples of "slow starters" that didn't really get good at something until there was something that caught that person's interest.

At best, this is a flawed metric with many nuances to consider. So many that you could probably make the same determination by removing age from the application.*

* If you want to collect demographic data, you can just ask for it in the submission form but not show it in reviews.

Interesting... I'd be curious to hear which successful startup founders fit this pattern?

I'm not a founder [but that doesn't mean I wouldn't potentially found a company someday] - I worked in hospitality management until my early 30s. If I were to apply to YC I wouldn't expect you to be interested in my previous career so I wouldn't include that. If I understand you right you're saying you'd look at what you see I've done [in the ~3 years I've been a developer] and be less impressed because it's coming from someone in their mid-30s instead of their early 20s.

Sorry to break it to you, but factoring that into your decision is the very definition of [age] discrimination.

Sorry, I didn't mean to give the impression that I only look at technical accomplishments. I like to look at whatever accomplishments that person has, regardless of what field they're in. So if you've worked a lot in hospitality management, then great, let's hear about your accomplishments there.

>> I only look at technical accomplishments

Without age discrimination

>>accomplishments are in light of how much time they've had to achieve them

Age discrimination by definition

What do you recommend?

Small correction: The W15 applications did ask for gender.

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