
How IBM quietly pushed out 20,000 older workers - Deinos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e681QNbHloE&feature=youtu.be
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harry8
Working for ibm is clearly hasadarous to your ability. If we believe ibm
they're telling us just how much ibm sucks. Employer of last resort, do not
hire.

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PeterStuer
Ageism is still the number 1 discrimination in the IT/software industry by a
mile. But since it is not as 'sexy', 'Politically Correct' or appealing to the
right 'Consumer Demographic', it gets mostly the silent treatment.

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maltalex
I find this explanation hard to swallow. It sounds too simple.

These are 40-55 year olds we’re talking about, most of which are experienced,
savvy and have a solid network of friends and colleagues in the industry.

In most other industries, these are the most valued employees. Look at
lawyers, doctors, and even engineers in other fields such as civil
engineering. Are their 50 year olds somehow different? Is their “problem”
somehow sexier? These fields treat their older employees as experienced
authority figures while our treats them as deadweight as evident in this very
thread.

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kazinator
Counterpoint:

The thing is, how can anyone who has stayed at IBM for 30 years be anything
other than a deadweight who is just there to collect a paycheck?

I mean, come on. IBM is kind of corporation where people go in hopes of
slipping through the cracks and being forgotten (while the automatic payroll
deposits keep coming).

Can then not be pardoned for indulging in a little tree shaking?

Employment at the same place until death isn't some kind of constitutional
right.

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maltalex
> how can anyone who has stayed at IBM for 30 years be anything other than a
> deadweight who is just there to collect a paycheck?

This is blatantly absurd. What makes you think that?

According to the story, in general, older employees received good reviews but
were discriminated against by a point system that gave an edge to new, young
employees.

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kazinator
I watched the whole thing and saw the scatter plot clearly. Though the points
are negatively correlated with age, there isn't enough information to know
whether that was _unfair_.

Raw data like this cannot tell you that.

For instance, say that 75% of the employees in some company are male. That _by
itself_ doesn't prove that there is a hiring bias against women.

What does "good reviews" mean? Maybe the people getting the points have "great
reviews".

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maltalex
> there isn't enough information to know whether that was unfair

How do you get from "we don't know if the reviews were fair" to "everyone
who's worked for IBM for 30 years has to be a deadweight"?

