The Ageism Factor When Looking for a Job in IT - Does Age Matter?

Question

Software and Internet Services

Various American blogs write about age discrimination. Startups and other companies in general need young, energetic people. They are ready to plow for a long time - they want to prove themselves and so on. This is clear.
What are your thoughts on ageism? Did you encounter it yourself?
What to do, for example, a 50-year-old developer with experience, if pigs look down?
To leave just do from IT - to become a guru and train other young people, to transfer experience?
p.s. I’m 27, but I’m already thinking about it ..

Answer 1

Firstly, fill such a resume so that you are begged with tears to go to them, agreeing to any of your conditions.
Secondly, choose adequate employers who are interested in your professionalism, and not age, gender, religion, etc.

Answer 2

He started serious web development at the age of 42. I don't give a damn about this at all. Of course, you have to spend more time studying than at the age of 20, when I could prepare for the exam in a ton of notes in an evening. But it doesn't affect the client. For a shitty employer, this may and will be important, but you don’t need such an employer. I think that if you start at the age of 20, then by the age of forty you can easily become a team leader / lead developer / project manager and spit on all the underage fry from the high bell tower. )

Answer 3

I would rephrase it a little: many employers do not evaluate age by itself, but the ratio "age - knowledge / skills", that is, with the same level of knowledge / skills, a 25-year-old will be torn off with his hands, and a 35-40-year-old will be told that in your age you should already be a superguru and low and even average skill level does not roll.
But why a 40-year-old has the same qualifications as a 25-year-old is a separate topic for discussion. For example, a person came to IT too late. Or a person has been in IT all his life, but rushes about all the time, I know a person who was a system administrator, then he wrote for Flash in Action Script, then in Delphi, then he switched to C #, but since his young years were missed, now he competes in terms of .NET qualifications with 25 year olds. Or a person sat in one place for a long time without professional growth and lost contact with the outside world, and when the office fell apart, it turned out that seniority and experience were never the same thing.

Answer 4

This factor exists and is not going anywhere. This is probably correct, especially in relation to webdev. New technologies for young people, since they don’t know how to do anything else. On the other hand, up to 35-40 it is hardly worth thinking about it.
It is not necessary to teach young people, there are other applications for your skills - system analytics, design, sales, project management, budgeting, personnel... IT is not just about turning nuts.
However, if you also want to cheat, there are more conservative areas such as enterprise, science, embeded, system programming.

Answer 5

Of course, a 50-year-old developer (and a 30-year-old, to be honest) will not be able to compare with a young, smart, ambitious student with burning eyes, and preference will be given to the second option, even if you have at least tons of experience. A programmer is not an architect of skyscrapers, and experience becomes obsolete by one or two, and programming itself is a profession with a limited shelf life and high risks in terms of the future.
You don't have to train anyone, you can just be a world-class guru if you can. Or yes, leave IT.
PS 27 is already middle age.