[throwaway1979]

Maybe it was just me, but I found the data to be a bit depressing. I'm a GenXer and there are days when the tech industry seems to be run by a generation I have trouble identifying with. The data in this reports suggests I'm not just being paranoid (more millennials in workforce than other named generations).

I was also shocked by the % of people who think they can get a new online gig in < 24 hours. The slides pointed at Upwork and ThumbTack. The first seems to be a renaming of oDesk. It seems to be dominated by workers from outside North America (at least for tech work).

This also raises the larger issue of career for GenXers. I was at a conference recently and spoke to some other people my age. The collective feeling I got was there is no defined career track anymore. Apparently, you just move from one interesting gig to another. While this is something millennials may be totally comfortable with, this particular GenXer is not. I'm also reading a book (interesting and depressing) called "Company of One" that seems to suggest that the overall trend is not restricted to millennials but the economy as a whole.

[michaelpinto]

I've got some good news for you: Because boomers have been retiring, and since millennials have no experience, this is the best time for gen x to look at opportunities in management.

Also there has never been a traditional career track for gen x since the boomers always dominated the labor market. And on the flip side gen x seems to work harder while millennials want more personal time.

Something else to keep in mind: Mary Meeker was born in 1959 which to me makes her the very last of the boomers. So the data she looks for will have not just a wall street bias, but an generational one as well.

[digikata]

There's no career track because many companies are unwilling to invest in the training & development of their employees. The expectation is that you hire in the job market from a set of people sitting 'on-the-shelf' with the exact qualifications needed.

Also in larger companies, boomers lived longer than previous generations, and companies had a more difficult time making room for advancement of later generations. Comparatively, boomers were able to 'take the reins' earlier and hold onto the longer than any later or previous generation.

So - develop unique new skills on your own time (or company down time) and move companies when opportunities arise.

[jobu]

Page 98 has the scariest bit of info for our future :

"Since 2000 = Population Grew 2.4x Faster than Jobs...

1948 - 2000 = Jobs Grew 1.7x Faster than Population"

A big portion of that is due to the severe decline in jobs around 2008, but the trend in job numbers seems to be smaller peaks and deeper troughs. Things are not looking great for the average worker.

[snowwrestler]

GenXer here. For me the question is whether the web/Internet industry will age with me.

A lot of industries started out as the domain of young risk-takers, but grew to accept and welcome older workers and managers. Railroads, print publishing, and air travel come to mind.

So the question is whether the Internet industry will follow the same path. I think it will, and I (selfishly) hope it will, because I'm not getting any younger.

I feel like lower "layers" of the computing industry have already made this transition. I don't get the feeling that a person needs to be under 30 to get a job at Intel, Oracle, Cisco, HP, etc. But I still get that feeling about a lot of hosted software companies, even big ones like Google or Facebook.

[binxbolling]

Job postings and job pages can reinforce/hint at this age bias as well. Since they can't outright discriminate, over time I've gotten a lot better at reading between the lines to see if the company has any room for people over 30.

[pinewurst]

What hints do you look for?

[Futurebot]

"Free Agent Nation" came out in 2001. Pink did a great job describing what was happening, and what would continue to happen with the job market (independent working, gig economy, no company loyalty, jobs for life gone, all that):

http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/stories/2008-06-10/free-agent-na...

I read it back then, but I think it's just as relevant today.