are old software engineers unhireable
I’m thinking of a new feature…. search result Thursdays!
Recently someone found this site by doing a search for “are old software engineers unhireable”
Wow. Tough question!
My answer: Yes.
Why? Because old engineers don’t need to work. They’ve either become rich via stock options, or they’ve become rich from equity in their house, or both!
So Yes – old engineers are unhireable. You can’t find them!
September 10th, 2009 at 6:18 am
I searched googled for “are old software engineers unhireable” and found this little Burbed gem:
http://www.burbed.com/2007/12/09/poll-software-engineers-how-much-do-you-make/
Pretty easy to spot the comments that are clueless (and talking out of their ass) and the ones that are in the industry and have an understanding of how it works.
September 10th, 2009 at 8:44 am
I think this goes for a lot of tech jobs in the BA. I’ve worked in probably 5-6 tech firms and all in all, the median age seems to hover around 30-40. You seldom if ever see anyone over that age. With the exception of upper execs and maybe the janitors its rare to find anyone in their 50′s period. Sales people are even younger. The companies I’ve worked for just burn through them. I never attempted to get to know them because they would be gone in 2 weeks or so.
September 10th, 2009 at 8:49 am
high turnover rate = bad leadership
with all due respect I wouldn’t use such companies as a representative sample esp. if most of them are (were) startups
September 10th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Go check the ivy behind the gas station on Shoreline and ECR or anytime at night on Castro Street … you’re looking for Homeless Jeff, who can tell you the old engineer situation and tell you if he trusts you, where the rest of ‘em have built their cardboard condos.
September 10th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
There is a gigantic worldwide oversupply of sw engineers, with a very large majority of them being under 30 (and indian or chinese very willing to work for $5k/year). Why would any company hire any older, more expensive sw engineer?
The result is that companies hire only 25-30ish first world sw engineers from Stanford, UCB, CMU, and other prestigious schools for “creative genius” positions, or 25-30sh third world sw engineers for “bulk headcount” positions. And they get rid (usually permanently…) of those over 40-45ish whenever there is a downturn.
Being a sw engineer results in a career as short and insecure as that of an actor/artist, without the “getting laid in acting/art school” bit.
September 10th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
I think another problem with a lot of the software engineers I’ve known in the past is a sort of reluctance to change over time. I realize I’m making a broad generalization, but it seems that there’s this attitude with engineers that once they’ve found out how to do something, they’ll stick with it for years. Their way is the “right” way, the “practical” way, the “only” way to do things because its what they learned back in the day. Its that same attitude that gets them into a position where they’re suddenly outdated compared to those coming fresh out of school loaded up with the latest set of whatever programming languages they’ve learned.
September 10th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
bob – well it’s well known that engineers are lazy. That’s the quality that drives them to do extra work right now to avoid doing boring, repetitive tasks later. If on top of that they have a thirst to learn and experiment, they don’t stay engineer very long – they get promoted.
September 10th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I think another problem with a lot of the software engineers I’ve known in the past is a sort of reluctance to change over time
You hit the nail on the proverbial head there bob.
I’ve come across numerous engineers in my tenure who are extraordinarily inflexible when it comes to adapting to change. I swear they all have some form of OCD and cannot move outside their routine or alter their process and way of working for any reason. It’s like dealing with a bunch of Rain Men.
The engineers I see who are more adaptable seem to also be the most bankable. They continue to thrive well and are the true thought leaders in their field.
One of the most common fallacies I see, especially with software engineers is their inability to experiment with new programming languages or new paradigms of software development. I new a Java developer that refused to learn new languages because he felt that everything should be done in Java. Compound that with the fact that he also refused to use effective development environments to make his code more effective and quicker to turn around. The guy is still writing Java code in a VI editor for crying out loud!
In the end, Darwin baby. Adapt or die.
September 10th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
If on top of that they have a thirst to learn and experiment, they don’t stay engineer very long – they get promoted
Bulls-eye!
Interesting that folks that enter a field where one should have a thirst to learn more often than not seldom want to do so.
September 10th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
well it’s well known that engineers are lazy. That’s the quality that drives them to do extra work right now to avoid doing boring, repetitive tasks later.
Ha – that reminds me of a comment made by a software guy last weekend: he was talking about a company that rewarded based on lines of code written. A prime example of misguided incentives! Lots of extra work, but it was lucrative.
September 10th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
BAI – maybe you should also expand your professional circle
as in, work at companies that hire, encourage and promote the right work attitude. Or start that company.
Also the right attitude isn’t so much to adapt to change (which is reactive) but to be proactive.
September 10th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
BAI, if the SW eng gig gets boring, you should go into standup.
“The guy is still writing Java code in a VI editor for crying out loud!”
September 11th, 2009 at 8:55 am
I think the having to learn new things is industry-wide. Even though I am not a programmer, I’m expected to know CSS, HTML, Ruby, some AJAX, as well as a whole slew of rather technical skills that people in my line of work didn’t have to touch a few years ago. I think that most people who code think with one side of their brains while we who are on the creative end think with the other. Having to learn something that’s totally foreign is painful. Even so, I actually kind of enjoy what little coding I do. Its even relaxing at times.