[tutufan]

At 53, it hasn't had much effect on me as far as I can tell. The first time I noticed was at about 45, where a SV startup that seemed extremely enthusiastic nope'd after seeing me on Skype.

IMO, there's just not much to be done about it. My skills are about as good as they ever were, and my long experience can be extremely useful. Some employers will hire that and some won't.

[hn_user2]

I always say that the places that nope out after seeing my age, are definitely places where I wouldn't want to work when I look at work/life balance, etc.

I think the truth is, it really isn't a good fit. These places want young people because they want that kid to stay all night--maybe with a break with the gang for some beers before going back to work.

No thanks.

[TheCowboy]

I just don't think this is a convincing argument from a philosophical standpoint, but it is a common argument. If we apply it in other situations, "a young black man wouldn't want to work for a company that doesn't want to hire young black men any way". It is true on the surface. Nobody wants to be where they aren't wanted for non-negative traits they cannot change.

When a problem is rare enough, and people affected have other options, it is a reasonable pragmatic stance. Let the isolated business owner, who treats it as a personal social club, be less successful.

It is not good for society if these injustices proliferate. Economic imbalances result favoring arbitrary traits that don't increase the wealth of society. Innovation is inhibited, labor market inefficiencies result. People can't change careers as easily and adapt to technological progress.

[tutufan]

At a societal level, I'd prefer that companies didn't act irrationally. (I don't believe in justice per se.)

But at an individual level, you have to play the cards you are dealt. There is a huge amount of noise in the system, but play them as well as you can.

[AnimalMuppet]

They also want to pay me like I've got 5 years of experience. I've got 30, and I'd like to be paid accordingly. If you don't see the value in those added years of experience, then I don't want to work for you.

Note that this is not the same as ageism. They'd be happy to hire me, even with my age, if they could pay me a bunch less.

[bradknowles]

I haven't seen this. The employers I've talked to seem to assume you wouldn't be happy if you were paid less and therefore they nope out pretty quickly.

[AnimalMuppet]

They do or I do. But the issue fundamentally is pay, not age.