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发帖数: 5381 | 1 【 以下文字转载自 Conservatism 俱乐部 】
发信人: zerobama (obama), 信区: Conservatism
标 题: [ZZ]The Tech Industry’s Darkest Secret: It’s All About Age
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Mon Apr 29 20:54:09 2013, 美东)
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130422020049-8451-
They don’t prepare you for this in college or admit it in job interviews.
The harsh reality is that if you are middle-aged, write computer code for a
living, and earn a six-figure salary, you’re headed for the unemployment
lines. Your market value declines as you age and it becomes harder and
harder to get a job.
I know this post will provoke anger, outrage, and denial. But, sadly, this
is the way things are in the tech world. It’s an “up or out” profession
— like the military. And it’s as competitive as professional sports.
Engineers need to be prepared.
This is not openly discussed, because employers could be accused of age
discrimination. But research, such as that completed by University of
California, Berkeley, professors Clair Brown and Greg Linden shows that even
those with masters degrees and Ph.Ds have reason to worry.
Brown and Linden’s analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census data
for the semiconductor industry revealed that although salaries increased
dramatically for engineers in their 30s, these increases slowed after the
age of 40. After 50, the mean salary fell by 17% for those with bachelors
degrees and by 14% for those with masters degrees and Ph.Ds. And salary
increases for holders of postgraduate degrees were always lower than for
those with bachelor’s degrees (in other words, even Ph.D degrees didn’t
provide long-term job protection).
It’s the same in the software industry. Prominent Silicon Valley investors
often talk about youth being an advantage in entrepreneurship. If you look
at their investment portfolios, all you see are engineers who are hardly old
enough to shave. They rarely invest in people who are old.
It may be wrong, but look at this from the point of view of the employer.
Why would any company pay a computer programmer with out-of-date skills a
salary of say $150,000, when it can hire a fresh graduate — who has no
skills — for around $60,000? Even if it spends a month training the younger
worker, the company is still far ahead. The young understand new
technologies better than the old do, and are like a clean slate: They will
rapidly learn the latest coding methods and techniques, and they don’t
carry any “technology baggage.” The older worker likely has a family and
needs to leave the office by 6 p.m. The young can easily pull all-nighters.
What the tech industry often forgets is that with age comes wisdom. Older
workers are usually better at following direction, mentoring, and leading.
They tend to be more pragmatic and loyal, and to know the importance of
being team players. And ego and arrogance usually fade with age.
During my tech days, I hired several programmers who were over 50. They were
the steadiest performers and stayed with me through the most difficult
times.
It can be difficult for some companies to justify paying the age premium.
For tech startups in particular, it always boils down to cost: Most can’t
even afford to pay $60,000 salaries, so they look for motivated, young
software developers who will accept minimum wage in return for equity
ownership and the opportunity to build their careers.
We can blame the employer, but in a free economy you can’t really force any
company to hire workers who have the wrong skills or to pay higher salaries
. Larger companies develop products for global markets and have global
workforces. They will hire where they can get the best skill for the best
price.
So, whether we like it or not, it’s a tough industry, and the onus is on
employees to keep themselves marketable. I know that many people will take
offense at what I have to say, but here is my advice to those whose hair is
beginning to grey.
Move up the ladder into management, architecture, or design, and diversify
your experience. Work with business executives in your company, in areas
such as sales, finance, marketing/product management, legal, and operations.
Develop a broader set of skills that make you more valuable to your
employer and that differentiate you from others with just coding skills.
Become an entrepreneur. Despite what some investors say, older age is an
advantage in the startup world. You know more about industries and markets,
and have ideas for products that the world actually needs and a better
ability to motivate and manage than a kid out of school does.
Keep your skills current. This means keeping up to date with the latest
trends in computing, programming techniques, and languages, and adapting to
change. To be writing code for a living when you’re 50, you will need to be
a rock-star developer and be able to out-code the new kids on the block.
Top developers are always in demand and companies will readily pay top
dollars for them.
If you’re going to stay in programming, realize that the deck is stacked
against you. Even though you may be highly experienced and wise, employers
aren’t willing or able to pay an experienced worker twice or thrice what an
entry-level worker earns. Save as much as you can when you’re in your 30s
and 40s, and be prepared to earn less as you gain experience.
Finally, I don’t know of any university, including the ones I teach at,
that tells its engineering students what to expect in the long term or how
to manage their technical careers. Perhaps it is time to let students know
what lies ahead and prepare them for their difficult careers.
You can read more about my work on Wadhwa.com and follow me on Twitter: @
wadhwa |
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