
How to Start Closing Silicon Valley’s Age Gap - steven
https://medium.com/backchannel/here-s-how-to-start-closing-silicon-valley-s-age-gap-f127a6646de8#.vbg9qy91x
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gmarx
I've come to suspect the main reason silicon valley startups don't hire
oldsters is that we are far less likely to fall for "low salary/long hours
because we are gonna be rich!!!!!!!!"

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itake
I think its a combination of a few factors:

1\. Older candidates are more expensive. Tech isn't that hard to learn. You
can get pretty good at a particular tech within 2 years of learning it. Why
pay an older candidate tons of money, when you can hire a new one that is just
as good?

2\. Older candidates don't know the latest tech. They spend their evenings
with their families / kids whereas young folk are constantly learning the
latest stacks at home.

3\. Older candidates don't pass the 'beer test' with young co-founders.

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ffumarola
A lot of times, the extra years of experience teach you what not to do and
what to watch out for, not what to do. Those are expensive lessons.

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collyw
I completely agree. Looking for a new job, everyone expects me to do some
algorithmic coding test rushed in a couple of hours. Thats not the way to
write reliable stable code in my opinion. Think deeply about the problem and
potential pitfalls. Choose an appropriate data model, and then start coding.

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chrisbennet
I've never had the opportunity to confront ageism directly in an interview,
but if I did, I would ask the (young interviewer) if they thought they would
be (a) more, or (b) less skilled when they had 10 more years of experience.

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dudul
Stop buying into the "lack of talent in tech" myth and lower the H1B cap to
force tech companies to hire workers (old, black, women, whatever) currently
in the national workforce instead of importing cheap labor from overseas.

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tzm
>But there is one talent that does decline over time—our willingness to take
risks. For evolutionary reasons, risk-taking peaks between the ages of 17 to
27, then drops off precipitously. [...] risk-taking is so important to
business success today, that it is better to sacrifice the improved skills,
enhanced problem solving abilities, and considerable emotional control that
comes with age, for the risk-philic-ness that is a by-product of youth.

Source: [http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenkotler/2015/02/14/is-
silic...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenkotler/2015/02/14/is-silicon-
valley-ageist-or-just-smart)

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gizi
I subscribe to the idea that every occurrence of misbehaviour will ultimately
turn into its own punishment. If they are not misbehaving by discriminating
against older candidates, nothing will happen. If they are mishaving, all you
need is patience, and you will see how it will eventually backfire.
Furthermore, I really would not want to get hired by people who, in fact, do
not want to hire me. I'd prefer them to tell me upfront: In fact we do not
like to hire people like you. It will undoubtedly spare me from much worse
than just not getting hired.

