
Ask HN: Should I Downplay My Age? - mjones
I&#x27;ve been programming for nearly 40 years and it is still my favorite thing to do. A while back I was reorganized out of the job I had been in for the previous eight years and found myself, for the first time in my career, without a job.<p>After taking a break and working on a non-technology passion project for several months I am now starting to get back into software development. I have read a bit here and there about alleged age discrimination and wonder if a) that&#x27;s a real thing and b) if it is a real thing what can I do to minimize the adverse effect on my job search.<p>So, assuming the truth, more or less, of (b) I am trying to figure out how to present myself during the initial contact with potential employers. One one hand (hand one!) I&#x27;m tempted to try to avoid clues in my resume as to my age, but on the other hand I think that the right employer will see my age and experience as an asset.<p>Hand One might have the advantage of getting me in to a face-to-face interview where I believe I can show that I have desirable traits. But on the other hand I&#x27;m not sure I would want to work at a company where ageism is an issue.<p>Comments?<p>ps. I had more than one recruiter ask me for my birthdate: &quot;Just Month and Day&quot;. I suppose they don&#x27;t know that I know that it&#x27;s obvious that my age could be easily determined (+- a bit) if armed with my Birthdate Month and Day, Name, and Location.
======
sparkman55
I've built a number of teams, and have repeatedly had the fortune of anchoring
the back-end with a senior engineer over age 50. Experience matters, and it
helps the entire team from a morale, design, and process perspective. You
don't want to work for someone who doesn't recognize that anyway...

I wish I could be so lucky to attract senior candidates at my current gig;
they're hard to come by at a trendy downtown-SF mobile commerce pre-series-A
startup. Instead, I'm inundated with fresh code-bootcamp graduates. I'd be
much more comfortable hiring those junior developers if I knew they would be
able to sit next to a reliable senior teammate...

That said, if you're worried about being hired, start by building something on
your own! You'll make yourself much more marketable if you show that you can
pick up new technologies and actually release something.

~~~
zachrose
Absolutely. I have had the pleasure of being the junior person sitting next to
someone who was close to retirement. His perspective of, "Ok, what are we
really trying to do here?" was invaluable. The best teams are always genuinely
diverse and seek to really get to know what's special about each other.

One suggestion: don't worry about dating yourself by talking about old tech
you once worked on. For some reason the older developers I've worked with take
a while to getting around to telling you about the time they wrote LISP in
Genera on a Symbolics 3640 for cutting edge CAD/CAM/simulation tools at Boeing
in the mid 80s or whatever (such cred!).

------
kls
_Also, outside of SF, the ageism is much much milder_

Agreed, it seems outside the cultural bubble of the Bay Area the entire
technical workforce seems to be aging. I see fewer and fewer of the younger
generations entering tech outside of a few markets like the Bay Area and
Austin.

I have a theory, that it is due to the work force being more mobile, as well
as the younger work force having less to tie them down. There was also,
consolidation of the start-up markets and a lot of other markets lost ground
while the Bay Area gained. I think this creates a natural draw for the younger
portions of our workforce.

Most of the individuals I run across outside of a few specific markets are
mid-30's to mid 50's and age seems to be a less relevant factor.

~~~
humanrebar
My theory is that having roommates only works when you're young. When you're
married and/or have children, you need your own place. That makes it much
harder to stay in the most expensive city in the U.S., rent wise.

~~~
xasos
I believe this is the case also. There is a Quora thread on the pros and cons
on raising kids in the bay area[1].

[1] [http://www.quora.com/Is-Silicon-Valley-a-good-place-to-
raise...](http://www.quora.com/Is-Silicon-Valley-a-good-place-to-raise-
children-Why)

------
fsk
Don't give out SSN or Birthdate information until after an on-site interview
when you're at the offer stage. Someone dishonest can use that information for
identity theft.

I'm already starting to be concerned about age discrimination, and I'm only 40
years old! It's very disturbing when you go on an interview and you're the
oldest person there by 10+ years.

The only way out is to start your own business. Do you have enough savings? If
you do, consider trying to bootstrap your own thing instead of going back to
being an employee.

~~~
annasaru
Thats 1) A bit depressing - you seem to be conveying that there is no other
possibility 2) Starting a new business is not everyone's cup of tea. Even for
a young person. Its loaded with risks.

I do face this as well. Age does slow down a person. But age also helps us
make haste slowly. I've seen younger engineers scattering their energy around,
and then coming to realize that the common sense option was the best. And
older programmers (like me) might be too set in our ways.

Can an old dog be taught new tricks? I'd say to test that, make sure you learn
a new programming language every year. Show it with non-trivial projects on
your github or other profile. Thats proof that you're still sharp.

Edit : Also _adopt_ a new editor every year. That shows you can step out of
your comfort zone. (I need to kick that emacs habit).

~~~
tjradcliffe
I think one of the advantages of being older is that it gives one the wisdom
to be more selective about tools. I'm an expert in the tools I use (C, C++ and
Python, mostly, although I know a dozen-odd languages well enough to crash a
program in them) and not hugely keen on learning new ones. I poke around at
new languages now and then but quickly learn they are either a) so much like
ones I know there's nothing special or b) Haskell or Erlang, which I've run at
a couple of times hard enough to be convinced there is something interesting
there but not hard enough to really have learned much.

So rather than learn a new language every year I aim to learn something about
the languages I already spend most of my time in. Functional techniques in
Python, the new features in C++14... things like that.

Nor do I see any value in learning a new editor. Really, editing is a solved
problem and if you're familiar with vi, teco, emacs, VisualStudio, Eclipse and
that other one whose name I don't remember that Microchip based MPLABX on
you've covered enough ground that anything you encounter is going to look
basically familiar.

I've met programmers young and old who won't leave their comfort zone that I
acknowledge it's a real problem, but I don't think you need to spend too much
time very far afield of your core expertise to keep current.

~~~
developer1
The editor thing can be kind of important. People who stick with emacs or vim
tend to be horrible with following coding standards and being able to review
and navigate code efficiently. There's nothing like an editor from Jetbrains
for tooling (Eclipse works too, but seriously the Jetbrains line is the best).

I have never used emacs, but vim is horribly limited in what it can truly do
in terms of handling code. You can add all the nifty little plugins you want,
but it just isn't efficient. The mistake people make moving to a full IDE is
installing the vim plugin to add some familiarity. I've seen coworkers take
literally _5 minutes_ to hammer out the vim keystrokes to refactor a block of
code that can be done in 15-30 seconds with 2-3 native IDE keyboard shortcuts
and a mouse click or two. It's important to know how to use vim or similar for
remote command-line work. When developing though, the functionality and built-
in tools provided by a full-fledged IDE are priceless.

There was a time I didn't judge new developers for using vim to edit code -
and a long time ago I was one of them. I used to see these people as "true
developers" for mastering an editor like vim. Now, after years of encountering
developers with hampered productivity and ability to work on a team with
coding standards, I see a vim/emacs person as someone who is stuck in their
ways, refusing to even try to modernize their workflow.

Just a random example: in PHP projects, my teams use CodeSniffer for coding
standards validation. The settings for common IDEs are committed to the VCS so
they are automatically in place for new developers cloning the project. In any
modern IDE, notices/warnings are instantly and unobtrusively made available as
you type code. You can also run the inspection against the entire codebase or
files you have modified since last VCS update to catch anything you missed.

What do Vim users do? They write code for hours or days at a time without
validating what they are writing. When done, they either a) commit without
running their code against CodeSniffer while egotistically proclaiming that
their personal coding style is clean and doesn't need to match what the rest
of the team abides by; or b) they spend hours running the command-line version
manually, ridiculously trying to parse the output and hunt each problem down.

This is the real problem with vim/emacs users. Nearly none of them are capable
of following the same coding practices as the rest of the team who are sharing
a set of project settings in modern IDEs. The worst I've seen was a team that
had once had amazing code quality completely abandon all forms of coding
standards when two new senior developers were hired who both used vim. They
refused to follow the standards because vim simply doesn't contain the
necessary tooling. The entire codebase went from being beautifully clean to a
complete mess, all because the new guys used vim. That was the job I walked
away from so fast after fighting over the ridiculousness and then learning
that both new developers were basically hired for the simple reason they went
to the same university as the hiring manager.

tldr; Use vim/emacs if you want; but if you're not going to be as productive
as, or match the code quality of, your teammates - that's a problem.

~~~
dinkumthinkum
This is kind of ridiculous. You are indicting vim and emacs users for some
alleged major catastrophe at your organization. You realize very large and
well written software projects, probably my h larger than your's, have been
built by people using vim and emacs and not having JetBrains did not hamper
them.

Honestly, I have seen so many developers fumbling around with their
"intellisense" and the kinda of things you are talking about, it makes me
sleepy watching them. I feel like if only spent time learning how to program
than their code completion and refactoring tools, they might produce better,
more efficient work.

~~~
MagaManGo
The linux kernal an GNU tools were built by emacs and vim users. That software
is running the world from android phones to servers.

Python, Ruby, and Javascript were built by emacs users. All the modern goodies
the new hip people rave about.

Web browsers were created by emacs users. The entire industry we make a living
in came from the belly of emacs.

But 2 guys at some company refused to follow coding standards, so yeah...

------
hawkice
My advice is to play up the experience, but play down some details of that
experience. For instance, 40 years of COBOL and C++ has some signalling issues
(not completely unreasonably, what with carpenters blaming shoddy tools). I'd
probably not talk about the technical nature of the experience at all -- just
say the industry it was for and what the tool was used for, and not name-
dropping old technologies.

Also, outside of SF, the ageism is much much milder. I've had people who had
the up/down control on me getting hired not know my age to within 15 years at
the time they make that choice (and they consistently guessed _older_ than I
am). But interviews in SF seem to bring this topic to the table almost
immediately. YMMV.

In terms of being uniquely identifiable (and therefore having few secrets) in
the job application process, this is essentially unavoidable. I wouldn't worry
about it.

~~~
O____________O
_40 years of COBOL and C++ has some signalling issues_

Today is the first time I've seen C++ mentioned alongside COBOL. Today is a
dark day...

~~~
hawkice
To respond to this and the sibling comment: That was meant to be 40 years
split in a first-COBOL-then-C++ type of way. I wasn't attempting to draw any
technical equivalency per se, merely a quazi-cultural one.

------
fecak
Recruiter here. I would absolutely recommend you not include any obvious
indicators of age on your resume, at least in many parts of the country.
Graduation dates are not required, and perhaps your first few jobs can be
eliminated from the resume. A resume doesn't have to be a complete biography.

With 40 years of programming (not sure how many were hobby vs paid), you are
likely to raise questions as to how many more years you would need to work.
You can trim the appearance of some years off to get in the door and avoid the
possibility of discrimination.

~~~
mjones
Hi Recruiter,

I appreciate the value of what you have said but I wonder whether the
deception by omission would count against me in the case that I get as far as
the face-to-face interviews.

Thanks!

ps. The 40 years includes only the years I was paid. Prior to that I spent
about a year learning how to program.

~~~
fecak
It depends on how much you omit. If you omit the last 35 years and your
graduation date, you show up with the expectation of a 27 year old where you
are likely in your 50s. That might be considered deceptive.

Graduation dates are usually the biggest issue, as older workers tend to drop
their first jobs off the resume just to save space. So if your first listed
job was in 1995, people will assume you are about 42 (we assume first job
around 22 years old). But if you include a graduation date of 1985, we now
know you are 52. So a graduation date makes a major difference there.

You can probably overcome any personal ethical issues by calling your
experience section "relevant experience" if necessary. I personally don't find
that necessary, as I don't think anyone has the right to assume a resume must
contain every professional activity. Resumes from foreign countries often
include photos, birthdates, and marital status, which is not recommended in
the US (by employers or candidates).

Don't trim off too much - you want them to value your experience. But trim
just enough where you are keeping most of the relevant work without sharing
unnecessary and potentially unhelpful content.

------
BorisMelnik
just gonna be straight here, there are older people that are the really smart,
savvy engineer types that school all us young folks, then there are the older
people that learned Pascal in 1978 and never stepped outside of their comfort
zone. We have an older person working in our office that, if it wasn't for him
would practically be a zoo. He constantly schools us on all things tech, and
keeps everyone in line. You are gonna be just fine.

The fact that you are on HN and able to have this kind of insight proves you
are capable of hanging with the youngins.

~~~
sillysaurus3
On the flipside, I've personally witnessed a manager firing someone just
because he was old. There is an ageism problem in the industry. Like racism or
sexism, whether you see its effects depends on where you are.

~~~
inmyunix
surely there was more to the story. hard to believe it was only attributable
to age without some context.

~~~
sillysaurus3
No, not really. It seemed quite strongly that the reason was due to his age,
but the official reason was that he couldn't learn new skills very well. The
problem was, he seemed to be learning them pretty decently.

------
WalterBright
As someone who has also been programming for 40 years (!), I find that
although I don't work as hard, I get more done. I.e. one learns to program
more efficiently, and make fewer mistakes. There's a lot less of uselessly
thrashing about.

------
nanoGeek
I think you should not worry about your age, after all there is nothing you
can do to end up younger. You should have confidence; you are much more
experienced than the average 25 year old developer out there.

On the other hand, as others have stated, you better avoid making your age
obvious.

In the end, you know what? In this life your time is limited and I think it's
wise to avoid worrying about things you can't control. Don't make your age
obvious but have confidence in your skills and experience!

------
mocfive
At 31, I feel like I am just now leaving the 'young talent' group, but not yet
considered older. Standing in the middle, kinda, I think I can see both sides.
To help deal with the agism issue, my hypothesis is that if you can zero in on
the exact misconceptions they might have about you, or older programmers in
general, and demonstrate that you don't fit that mold, you're in.

Some younger engineers will worry if older engineers lost their hunger for
learning new technologies. In their position, they are well aware of what is
fashionable, or even just current best practice. This is mostly because as new
people they go straight to the new stuff. For example, new programmers don't
learn SVN, they go straight to git, and github is a way of life.

So, right or wrong, it is a red flag to them if they see or hear about people
advocating what they consider as outdated approaches.

But, importantly, they also read books by the folks who are 20-30 years older,
but never lost that drive. They go to talks by these people and take notes,
buy their screencasts, and brag about what they learned. They want luminaries
to guide them. So, maybe, establishing expertise over what they consider
important is a way around this misconception the youth has.

I imagine you could send positive signals by fixing or improving some popular
open source project. Maybe write some interesting toy code, a game, or
something that solves a development problem, and add that to a personal site
or your github account. Any way to demonstrate what someone with 40 years
experience can do, in a context they can see and interact with should do the
trick.

~~~
kuujo
I have to say, as a young engineer working at a startup full of cutting-edge
technologies, this seems to be the best advice I've seen yet (if that type of
environment is what you're looking for).

------
schlinb
I have recently been involved in a project where we are analyzing employment
offers from companies in different markets (SF bay area being one of them).

We have found that one of the biggest factors in getting employment offers is
how you position yourself. For instance right now if you are an enterprise
engineer with extensive perl or .Net experience this will hurt you if you want
to get into a young web company. On the other hand if you are an iOS or Node
engineer in SF or can position yourself as an engineering manager then you're
likely to find it easier to get job offers.

In general, the data that I've seen suggests that new companies are basically
not interested in older technologies. I believe that the problem a lot of
older engineers have is that they try to enter the current market by relying
on their old skills and that mis-match is interpreted as ageism.

In my experience having experience (and age) is very valuable IF you're a
strong engineer and you can apply that experience to the existing technology
landscape. Make sure that you're presenting yourself to the right companies
with skills in the right technologies and toolsets though or they will not
even look at you.

~~~
dinkumthinkum
It's pretty silly, though. Node is not a new "technology." It is framework for
using Javascript. It is debatable if it is even good. What is more important
is someone's grasp of core CS and programming concepts. If a code bootcamper
with 6 months of using some fad framework is more valuable than someone with
30 years of experience, why is that? If the code bootcamper can use Nodr,
presumably the person with 30 years experience could very easily, as well.

Maybe it's just better to not work at these kind of. Dry low technical skill
SF "young web" startups. I dunno.

~~~
schlinb
I completely agree. It's strange to me too... but that's what the data shows.

I think it makes sense in a way. If your technology is built on Node then
hiring a guy who'd rather work in php or java is not going to be a good fit.
He won't go home at night and play with Node to really understand it's
strengths and weaknesses and he won't have excitement for the technology --
totally justifiable since at some point all these new frameworks start to feel
like re-inventions of the same wheel over and over again.

In my experience there are nice things about working for SF startups --

You're surrounded by people passionate about technology. You're generally
working on problems that are small enough where you can have big impact on
them yourself. If you want to know how to build a company then it's really
good experience.

That said, it's sort of a question of what scale you'd like to work at.

In my experience --

Contracting is fun because you build lots of small stuff and experiment with
lots of different technologies and ideas

Startups are fun because you get to actually build and run a product but you
have to build everything so sometimes you don't get to venture into those
really interesting areas like massive scale or search quality

Enterprise (I haven't done a ton of enterprise work) seems fun because if
you're part of the right enterprise then you get to work on problems that are
much larger than a startup can work on and work with more resources and more
exotic larger problems (wouldn't it be fun to work on self-driving cars?)

------
err4nt
I"m just a young guy here, not an employer, but I can share how I view your
age in a candid way that might help you put your best foot forward.

My parents, born in the mid-1950s are currently in the job market looking for
work, and they claim they feel the ageism/discrimination but it completely
baffles me as a younger person.

As a person who celebrated Y2K in public school, now in the workforce blazing
my own trail: I personally wouldnt have any issue with your age whatsoever. I
gauge people based on results and performance, and so if you're an old dog I
dont need to teach you any new tricks, you're probably a pro already!

I would be a little intimidated by your age, and it would be humbling and
awkward for me to feel like you were my subordinate, but I would cherish your
insight and experience (and hopefully mature reasoning skills) and I believe
you may have a lot to offer!

I still prepare resumes and cover letters for my parents as they hunt for
jobs, and I wish I could encourage you as well.

Age != youth

Age != ability

Age == how many pages have been turned in the 'Book of You'

Best of luck as you put yourself out there!

~~~
poppup
I enjoyed reading your encouraging words. I know it's not encouraged to post 1
up comments, so I have more to add, but before I do, I wanted to pass along
that it's nice to hear how supportive you are with regard to your parents and
others.

I agree with your comment and I think the thought of ageism is what is
intimidating. There is nothing that cannot be accomplished when a person sets
their mind to it, regardless of age, but there is a time and energy cost.
Young people have more energy, so more effort is required on the part of an
older person to appear energetic and desirable. I am 46 and have worked in
five different careers. Experience can be demonstrated and comes across as
impressive if it is concise and on point, regardless of age. Being both
energetic and concise is an art form. But I highly recommend it as a strategy
when seeking employment.

------
blergh123
For me, when I've interviewed older developers, my main concern is that they
have too much experience for the role we are interviewing for and may be bored
and want to leave.

It probably depends on the job description, but sometimes more experienced
candidates get rejected for this exact reason.

I'd love to hear how other people handle this type of situation.

~~~
at-fates-hands
I can totally validate this concern.

I have a really good friend who's a Javascript pro. Like mad scientist Douglas
Crockford good. He's also in his early 50's. He's been hired at some of the
largest corporations and has done some absolutely amazing work.

But he never sticks around longer than 6-8 months for the very reason you
cite.

Just like in his current gig with a huge financial institute where he
completely rewrote all their tools in Angular and Node in four months, and
then basically said he was bored and the company was moving too slow for him!

He's currently looking at starting his own app development company and doing
his own thing finally, which he really needs. He just has so much talent and
experience, he had a hard time finding anything challenging anymore. And since
Javascript developers are in such high demand, he can come and go when he
wants to - something his experience and talents allow him to do. Something
someone in their 20's or 30's just can't compete with.

We both currently work in the midwest, and the tech scene here is really
vibrant.

------
old-soft-man
Great discussion here, although so much of it presumes that people whose
hiring prowess mistakes CV crafting skills for CS wisdom are worth working
for.

Okay, I'm lucky to be at a point where I squeezed enough blood from the
software development rock to carry on even if I never wrote another line of
code again.

But I can hardly express how much happier I've been in a (relative to "rock
star" and/or "ninja" mindsets) silly, part time "data specialist" position for
a local non-profit that really needs someone who can spin useful utilities and
disparate systems connectivity from any available silk (or dirty kite string)
than I've ever been slaving away in the usual "headless chickens" environments
managed by the usual clowns whose management training consisted of little more
than proving themselves useless at software development itself - which
training, of course, tends to result in the aforementioned hiring prowess to
boot.

Good bleeping riddance!

------
arisAlexis
I'd like to express a somewhat different view while being in the same boat. I
am 35 and working as a dev for years now. My recent teammates (small team)
include a senior very experienced developer who started coding with punch
cards for the British gov. That seemed cool at first but now I am trying to
maintain some software he wrote from 2004-now. The software has really bad
code in it, the kind you wouldn't expect some experienced guy to produce. It
has no testing, it has serious OO flaws. Maybe its this particular guy that
was just not very good, but its creeping me out when we talk about things and
I realise he is comprehending much slower than the rest. I was wondering if
that's just normal age degradation. I would love to code 40 years from now. I
am just worried.

------
sulam
First of all, I have never... and I do mean _never_ had a recruiter ask me for
my birthdate. I've been in the industry for 20 years now (not 40, congrats on
almost hitting THAT milestone!), so it's not like I just have low exposure.

Secondly, my advice is to do nothing special. Yes, filter your resume for
things you think the company would be interested in -- you would do that
regardless of your age. In general a one-pager resume is greatly appreciated
by everyone. If it comes up that you've been around the block more than most,
fine. You don't want to work for companies that would discriminate against you
based on age anyway -- they are probably going to fail due to stupidity like
not appreciating expertise learned from experience.

------
mjones
Thanks everyone for your thoughts.

I'm proud of the skills I've acquired over the years and the projects I've
worked on. And I never think my skills are enough, lately I've worked with
meteor, zero-copy packet architectures, iPhone apps, and some security-related
issues.

I'm not going to try to hide my age and I'm not going to try to make it a
desirable trait. I will hope that bit of ambiguity gets me in for a face-to-
face interview which I am very confident will turn out well.

Companies which are so rigid as to wonder whether I'm "young enough" are
probably not places I'd like to work anyway.

------
geuis
I dunno, this is kind of creeping up on me. I just turned 35 at the end of
January and I'm in the middle of a job search because my last startup is
shutting down. I've only done a handful of onsites so far and I've been a
little worried about perceptions. I'm overweight and because of genetics, I'm
much greyer in hair and beard than a lot of other people my age. So far it
doesn't seem to be an issue, even when I'm talking to people younger than me.
I'd say the issue definitely exists, but so far it hasn't been an issue for me
personally.

~~~
annasaru
Thats yet another kind of discrimination - but I am sure (and hope) there are
many who will treat you fairly.

------
sysk
Have you considered freelancing or running a small consulting business?

I admit that if I was faced with the opportunity of hiring someone a lot older
and experienced than me I'd have two immediate thoughts: "This guy would be a
great asset, we need him" and "I think I'd be way too intimidated and nervous
being his boss, can't do it".

Doing consulting work solves the second question since it changes the boss-
employee dynamic to a more business-to-business like one.

Now, I am not in a position to hire anyone so take my introspection with a
grain of salt.

------
bbulkow
1\. Where are you.

2\. Don't be paranoid but don't play it up.

3\. There's no way to hide your age, realistically. You have to answer
questions like the year you graduated from college, the year of your first
job.

4\. There are a bunch of people that age I would kill to work with (35 year
programmer), we have half a dozen people in our office with that much
experience. We're a C shop and we write very, very high performance code. WORK
YOUR FRIENDS, you must have friends, those friends have jobs.

~~~
mjones
Thanks, I'm in LA, if you're into high performance networking then you might
want to see [https://github.com/pfq/PFQ](https://github.com/pfq/PFQ) , if you
haven't already.

------
rajacombinator
As a startup founder who anticipates hiring some time this year, my feeling is
that all things equal I would vastly prefer someone who has been programming
for 40 years and still loves it. You're likely to have far more experience,
knowledge, and superior work habits vs a fresh grad. However I doubt you would
be willing to join a risky startup for lower wages than you could get
elsewhere.

~~~
mjones
Actually, due to the fact that my kids are grown up and out on their own, I am
not nearly as concerned about getting top dollar (or climbing some career
track) as I am about working on something interesting and having done
something I can look back on 10 years from now and feel that my time was well
spent.

~~~
rajacombinator
That's cool, I like that attitude! Maybe once I am ready to hire I will reach
out. :)

------
hiou
Honestly, it's more about finding a results based org. I've worked with a lot
of different companies and some are very culture fit and some are very results
oriented. You will never get a shot at the culture fit crowd so go for the
results based crowd. Flood your resume not with experience as much as real
results and value you have created.

------
brudgers
Life is short.

Why would you want to work somewhere that allows or encourages discrimination
on age or anything else?

Let assholes filter themselves out of your life.

~~~
a3n
Actually life is long, too long work for assholes.

I usually phrase it "No, I don't want to do that, life is too long to write
C++," or whatever thing I'm declining to do.

------
maak
No, of course you shouldn't downplay your age. If such prejudice exists, you
are perpetuating it by downplaying your age.

------
frozenport
>>I've been programming for nearly 40 years

Instead of being 59 you will be 49? I don't think it will help. Instead, put a
spin on it and sell yourself as experienced in technical matters.

------
old-soft-man
It's all poker, especially the part about not needing to have a strong hand to
win. Play the game to win, your 40-year-old jack of all trades high
notwithstanding. ;-)

------
vijucat
"We've been consistently recognized as one of the best places to work for Gen
Y", read an ad that I saw recently.

------
austinwm
The coin has been in hand 2 all along.

~~~
mjones
I tend to see it that way too.

