
Ask HN: Late-entry programmers, was age discrimination a problem for you? - djellybeans
This is mostly directed at programmers that entered the industry around their mid-30&#x27;s or older, with no prior experience in the field. Did you face any age discrimination? If so, how did you cope with it?
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soneca
Not a problem for me. Started to study web development last November, got a
job as a junior frontend web developer last June. My first senior peer was 22
and taught a lot of stuff. I am older than everyone in the tech team, but
everybody is super supporting.

I did hear from a potential employer before I got this job a _" You know, you
will be competing with young, energetic developers, who are coding since they
are 13 years old. You have a lot of catchup to do."_

It maybe was some ageism, but I think the guy was just try to get some
leverage for the shitty salary he was paying. I just ignored him and moved on
to another job.

~~~
coryl
How did you get a job so easily (if it was easy)?

~~~
soneca
I was prepared (my merit) but got lucky.

My merits:

I studied hard for full 4 months and then started applying for jobs. While
applying, more 3 months of keeping studying until I got an offer.

By studying, I mean completing freecodecamp.org front end certificate. But
also shipping small, learning projects. I had a portfolio. Pretty outdated by
now as I haven't touched since I got a job: [https://rodrigo-
pontes.glitch.me](https://rodrigo-pontes.glitch.me)

I also studied tech that is "hot". As I was studying to be a web developer,
particularly frontend, I focused on React. No reason (I believe) for junior
developers studying more established technologies. But back up the tech choice
with data. In frontend world there are a LOT of jobs asking React. This is
"hot". VueJS is promising, but you can't compare with where React is right
now. Maybe in a year or two. Angular lost a lot of traction too, so no longer
worthy. There a lot of places to find this data. It may be a ctrl+F at HN Who
is hiring or look at Stack Overflow poll. Study the tech that has most job
positions at the moment you are looking. Funny thing: I got hired to work with
Ember. :) That's the thing, companies that work with not dominating techs know
they are exceptions and are willing to introduce people to the tech. Companies
that are working with the dominating tech will normally prefer people that
know said tech and are less willing to introduce people to their tech.

I just applied for jobs I knew I was a good fit for. So in these 3 months, I
believe I have applied to around ~15 jobs. But 10 of it were just a click on
LinkedIn and I knew it mostly doesn't work. The other 5 were jobs that the
first task was a code challenge. A much better bet in my opinion. It means
that the company will actually take a look and a pay attention to your
application and that the person taking a look are developers, not HR
recruiters. This basically happens because the employers aren't flooded with
applications, they knew it takes an effort to apply so they feel compelled to
take it seriously. My job came from one of these 5 applications.

I prepared for the interviews by studying more than code, but also what was
important to be a good developer. I read a lot of articles on this topic. My
summary is: enjoy what you do (especially for people changing careers, don't
do it just for the money), be prepared to keep studying all your life, be
humble to always be learning from everyone, be good at communicating complex
issues and teamwork. Also, I was very self-aware of my strengths:
communication, work/study ethic, background in marketing (relevant as I was
applying to be a web developer, mostly at startups) and my weaknesses: total
lack of CS background (meaning I lack fundamental concepts in my education,
like the architecture and design patterns basics), no experience as a
developer in a professional environment (never worked on a code project within
a team, no code reviews), very very basic Git knowledge.

All that means that I knew what to say during an interview. Always being
honest and making sure that were aligned expectations and mutual understanding
what kind and level of developer I was.

The luck part:

The company I was hired is a growing startup that had a recent crisis in its
tech team, with a few developers leaving the company. This lead to a new CTO,
a new tech team culture and an urgent need for growing its number of developer
4 times. So they were welcoming junior developers, in a very collaborative
environment, with real, important tasks to do. I got lucky to find the right
company at the right time (currently there are no more frontend junior
positions around here).

I wrote more about my merits because it is something you can control. But I
don't underestimate the lucky part. All horror stories of long-term
unemployment we hear have a couple of close calls when the person almost got a
job. If that close calls had pended to the right side for some arbitrary
reason, there would be no horror story. That said, I believe there is a tip
there to help you find the right company at the right time: look for companies
that are putting real effort in hiring. Just a job post on some job boards?
No. Find the ones that are starting with code challenges (as I said before),
hosting and participating in meetups, have a very organized and updated
careers page, explicitly state that they are hiring among their regular
communication (Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, etc). There are signs you can pick
that a company is serious about hiring.

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steve_taylor
As a 40-year-old front-end dev with a decade-old work history in this space
(and many more years as a hobbyist), I have not yet knowingly been on the
receiving end of age-based discrimination. I expect that may change unless I
start building my personal brand as a leader in this space - someone whose
articles devs read and whose presentations they watch. And that would have to
coincide with a change of direction in my career to one of leadership. I don’t
think I should still be coding full-time when I’m 50. Over the last decade,
I’ve noticed a gradual physical decline (although I’m reasonably healthy) and
being an overly enthusiastic dev can take its toll. (I don’t know how to
consistently cruise through my tasks and clock off at 5:30 like other devs.)

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sonabinu
In my experience, it is not really a problem. I am at a well established 30
plus year old company.

