I feel this. I got the "you look older than your profile pic" comment during an interview last year. That one was fun. Dude wanted to know if I could even code anymore.
Sheesh - what a lame statement. All the juniors I've worked with are very keen to learn from us old timers, and likewise their enthusiasm and energy rubs off on us. It's a win-win as far as I'm concerned.
Indeed, we can intensify or we can reduce fault lines. Labeling old or young folks with worst stereotypes will not solve problems apart from giving jollies to some on social media.
So far for me working with young people has been lot of fun and learning on both sides.
I think some organizations, groups or individuals are more about having all the right traits and buzzword experience on the CV and are more afraid of being disillusioned about anything that is part of that kind of goal than interested in really solving problems or learning skills to actually do so.
I would imagine it's extremely hard to prove though. The prospective employer could just maintain that the applicant "wouldn't be a good culture fit" or similar.
Literally all companies in my industry have an application track just "for graduates". They just want young kids, I never understood how this is legal. What am I missing?
Pretty obvious what that was about.