[frognibble]

I am a 50-something engineer who recently worked at a well known startup. I am planning a new startup now. I reviewed my contemporary connections on LinkedIn to see how many I'd consider for my startup. I did not find many.

Many of my contemporaries have climbed the management or technical ladders to the point where they have not practiced the skills needed in a startup for years. They are managing fifty or more people. They are architects at large corporations. They are not designing products and writing code.

A smaller group of my contemporaries are set for life financially. They are no longer working or are only pretending to work.

Of those that are still actively working, I know that some of them have ratcheted up their lifestyle to match their high compensation. It would be a major adjustment for them to live on a startup salary.

There might be ageism in the startup world, but I think it's definitely the case that the pool of eligible and interested 50-somethings is small.

I personally have not experienced ageism. I was 20 years older than everybody else at my last startup.