Years ago I worked at an academic library where software devs over 50 felt really comfortable but people under 40 felt they were never going to be taken seriously. Part of the problem was that to get ahead and be taken seriously you had to have a library science degree but changes in the world made it seem that an applications programmer with DBA experience could be better at taxonomy, ontology and classification not to mention all the skills that were becoming essential for digital librarianship. I could take my skills anywhere, but the librarians had to carve out a place for themselves in this world.
The funniest thing was an ambitious 30-something dev who thought he was not getting taken seriously who (1) started studying for an MBA, (2) deliberately gained 30 lbs, and (3) got one of those fancy haircuts where they put aluminum foil in your hair to make grey streaks.
That organization was under a lot of stress and something popped and there was enough blame to go around including for myself and I wound up looking for a job. We have a "workforce development center" which is sometimes helpful in my town, but this time I was arguing with the councilor that I didn't think I was facing age discrimination in the way he expected.
Since then I've worked at a number of places and been the oldest person at a startup a few times. It helps that (1) I am always keeping up with new technology and (2) I've had a long term interest in things like AI and ML (and UX, VR, ...) so when an AI startup needs somebody with 5+ years of experience that's me and (3) I keep an eye on things that are timeless like the fundamental of computer science (e.g. if a Turing machine can't do it an LLM can't do it, but it might bullshit you into thinking it can... is that the real Turing test?), project management, people skills, etc.
I worked at one platoon-sized startup where I was the oldest person where I did run into a different sort of problem. Most of the employees didn't really understand or believe in the business model of the company. I believed it because I needed foundation models for the work I was doing in 2010 and knew the world would need them, but this company was a few years too early. We had frequent "all hands" meetings where I could easily upstage the CEO because I was older, could look and sound like a leader, was more enthusiastic (got this job because I'd maxxed out my HELOC chasing my own El Dorado.) Ultimately this lead to trouble.
The funniest thing was an ambitious 30-something dev who thought he was not getting taken seriously who (1) started studying for an MBA, (2) deliberately gained 30 lbs, and (3) got one of those fancy haircuts where they put aluminum foil in your hair to make grey streaks.
That organization was under a lot of stress and something popped and there was enough blame to go around including for myself and I wound up looking for a job. We have a "workforce development center" which is sometimes helpful in my town, but this time I was arguing with the councilor that I didn't think I was facing age discrimination in the way he expected.
Since then I've worked at a number of places and been the oldest person at a startup a few times. It helps that (1) I am always keeping up with new technology and (2) I've had a long term interest in things like AI and ML (and UX, VR, ...) so when an AI startup needs somebody with 5+ years of experience that's me and (3) I keep an eye on things that are timeless like the fundamental of computer science (e.g. if a Turing machine can't do it an LLM can't do it, but it might bullshit you into thinking it can... is that the real Turing test?), project management, people skills, etc.
I worked at one platoon-sized startup where I was the oldest person where I did run into a different sort of problem. Most of the employees didn't really understand or believe in the business model of the company. I believed it because I needed foundation models for the work I was doing in 2010 and knew the world would need them, but this company was a few years too early. We had frequent "all hands" meetings where I could easily upstage the CEO because I was older, could look and sound like a leader, was more enthusiastic (got this job because I'd maxxed out my HELOC chasing my own El Dorado.) Ultimately this lead to trouble.