[dbrowne]

Ageism is real and you either adapt or fade away. The tech is like the porn industry: youth is coveted and the elderly are not. Zuckerberg stated: “Young people are just smarter.” https://ricochet.com/1274812/zuckerberg-stated-older-people-.... and many believe dementia begins at 40. I'm 56 and in my 4th year of a CS PhD program. Was lucky enough to be able to afford to temporarily retire to school with the hope of becoming the old guy with a fresh degree and the niche expertise necessary for another decade of work. Some of my age peers are beginning to experience difficulties with managers who are young enough to be their children. Many are now getting as many certifications as possible to prove their worth and are becoming frightened. I am unsure of the solution but hair dye is not it. One person wrote: "One advantage we, The Elders, have is that we know not only how things got (and get, and will get) built, but we also know how they fail... We seldom need more than five minutes to point out organizational issues that can cause a project to fail" You will be mercilessly "cancelled" unless you deliver the message in an amenable manner. The generation gap has made many youth unaccepting of contrarian ideas as the hubris of youth can be difficult to tenor for a wizened programmer.

[lucasgonze]

"temporarily retire to school with the hope of becoming the old guy with a fresh degree and the niche expertise necessary": that's a smart strategy. How big did you go on this? What was the degree and how long did you take off?

[ilaksh]

Like porn? That's a bit of a stretch.