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The great displacement is already well underway?

(shawnfromportland.substack.com)
512 points JSLegendDev | 2 comments | 12 May 25 14:32 UTC | HN request time: 0.417s | source
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YeGoblynQueenne ◴[12 May 25 21:02 UTC] No.43967428[source]▶
I don't think the author's troubles have anything to do with AI, other than making it harder to get an interview. He seems to get a few of those. I think the real problem he has is... well, the meaning of life, i.e. 42.

He's a 42 year old dude. Looking for a job in software? You gotta be joking. He says he can't clear the 25-year old Steve-Jobs complex SV bro mini-boss. Well, duh.

That's the industry. It sucks you up and it spits you out. It vampires the best years of your life and then you're on your own.

Sorry that the author had to find out, but I think I've seen that coming from the day I was first employed as a junior engineer. I just averaged up the ages of my colleagues and it was blindingly obvious how things turn out in the long run.

Nor "AI" as in "Artificial Intelligence", but "AI" as in "Ageist Industry".

P.S. Look on the bright side: at least you're not a 42 year old woman looking for software jobs. Hah.

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1. tjohns ◴[12 May 25 21:57 UTC] No.43967853[source]▶
> He's a 42 year old dude. Looking for a job in software? You gotta be joking.

This is such an odd take. I see lots of older folks around me - and 42 isn't that old.

That said, it's undeniably true that expectations are raised the further along in your career you are. Interviewers will accept mistakes from a fresh college grad that they won't accept from an engineer with 20 years of industry experience who should know better (and is paid more). Not to mention there's just statistically fewer openings for TL positions. All of that definitely makes interviews harder as you're further along in your career.

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2. reverius42 ◴[13 May 25 19:21 UTC] No.43976603[source]▶
Someone who's 42 needs to be a "TL" (tech lead?). Not everyone can be a leader (like you say, not that many openings available) -- and leading is often a totally different job and skill set from developing software. So what do you call it when everyone above a certain age is automatically shunted into a smaller pool of openings for a different role? I would call that ageism.