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Silicon Valley’s Dark Secret: It’s All About Age (age discrimination in the tech sector)
Tech Crunch ^ | 1 Sep 2010 | Vivek Wadhwa

Posted on 09/01/2010 8:33:44 AM PDT by a fool in paradise

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To: jpsb

LOL - I’ve seen this too. I work for SV company, contractual services work (embedded systems), sometimes I can’t believe some of our customers ever get something out the door (at least working!).

As far as very young engineers: ask him/her to write a detailed design document. Most can’t, and if they can’t do that then what the heck are they coding? Good engineers are more experienced with structure and process, they’re more thorough and produce much more efficient, maintainable code with fewer bugs. And most importantly, a bug can be easily located.

Work for a company where the managers were once/are experienced engineers - that is usually very different than a start up.


61 posted on 09/01/2010 10:03:51 AM PDT by fuzzylogic
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To: a fool in paradise

As a soon to be layed off 53-year-old, it’s stories like this that turn my stomach.


62 posted on 09/01/2010 10:15:01 AM PDT by OrangeHoof (Washington, we Texans want a divorce!)
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To: muawiyah
Pretty much. I'd still pull an all-nighter if needed, but I really don't bounce back as quickly as I used to.

BUT, because of my experience and skill, I'm much less apt to need to pull an all-nighter.

Younger engineers have less ability to understand process interactions, they simply lack the gut experience to see how a minor change can ripple through the entire shop floor and come back to bite them.

They tend to be like little liberals in that regard, they want to "impeach Bush" but can't foresee the immediate consequence of having President Cheney. Unlike liberals, they can be trained out of it!

A smart company has a mix of enthusiasm and experience. Less healthy companies tend to have either a stable of old nags, or young stallions.

63 posted on 09/01/2010 10:18:18 AM PDT by null and void (We are now in day 585 of our national holiday from reality. - 0bama really isn't one of US.)
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To: fremont_steve
I had to take a 15% paycut.

Bah! I'd take a 50% cut just to get back in a wafer fab.

64 posted on 09/01/2010 10:22:54 AM PDT by null and void (We are now in day 585 of our national holiday from reality. - 0bama really isn't one of US.)
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To: Jack Black
Excuse my spelling. “hornry” should be “ornery”, as in: stubborn, individualistic, unwilling to be subservient.

No, you got it right the first time! :)

65 posted on 09/01/2010 10:26:12 AM PDT by The Duke
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To: jpsb
I prefer art programs myself ~ but you have to be an artist to get good at any of them. One of my kids is into some really advanced 3D stuff ~ it was a major battle getting though the first two or three, but after that it was a snap.

Watch carefully as all your television advertising turns to animation ~ essentially robots ~ who don't need to be paid!

66 posted on 09/01/2010 10:35:17 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: The Antiyuppie
Regarding your comment on "the end user would never do that" ~ Yeah! Hey, there are "end users" out there who TRY TO DO THAT ~ and if it is a system that in any way crosses tracks with financial accounting, inventory control, or payments there are CRIMINALS working it to break it down and steal stuff.

Ever notice that your "quality auditors" have a touch of gray and a world of experience? They know what the "end users" do and they specialize in catching them at that.

67 posted on 09/01/2010 10:40:47 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: null and void
BTW, I got out of the computer racket and into writing regulations and handbooks. The advantage was I didn't need to pull as many overnighters, but when you write rules you have to remember the beginning, end and middle simultaneously so you can make necessary changes.

Plus, we had abominable time constraints every now and then ~ 10 days to rewrite several hundred pages in a thousand different ways ~ our problem was you couldn't work that with a team of more than about 10 people, and that was barely enough to get things done in that time. Still, more people just slowed it down.

I know several ways to do the overnighters as needed ~ fortunately i'm retired.

68 posted on 09/01/2010 10:47:19 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: The Antiyuppie
MOST of the younger people now have a terrible work ethic, particularly, I’m sorry to say, native Americans.


69 posted on 09/01/2010 10:54:14 AM PDT by whd23 (Every time a link is de-blogged an angel gets its wings.)
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To: r9etb

>> to go for new just because it’s new is not always the right thing to do.

No, of course not.

Practicing the *best* approach (whether old or new) is what a true professional is paid to do.


70 posted on 09/01/2010 1:19:36 PM PDT by Nervous Tick (Eat more spinach! Make Green Jobs for America!)
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To: whd23

My comment, of course, did not refer to “native americans” = “Indians” = Native Americans. I have no experience with Native American Indians other than a brief trip through a reservation where a few waved at me - well, they seemed friendly enough!


71 posted on 09/01/2010 3:24:34 PM PDT by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.")
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To: The Antiyuppie
My comment, of course, did not refer to “native americans” = “Indians” = Native Americans.

Yes, I understood that, but it was funnier to pretend I didn't! :)

72 posted on 09/02/2010 10:36:03 AM PDT by whd23 (Every time a link is de-blogged an angel gets its wings.)
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