(2024-09-04) Procopio Why Ageism Is Accepted In Tech

Joe Procopio: Why Ageism Is Accepted In Tech. With all the talk about recent ugly issues in the modern workplace, you’d think there’d be a huge uptick in the ageism discussion category

But I’m actually shocked at how little ageism talk I see out in the open.

Let’s start here: Ageism is real. It’s accepted. And it used to be warranted.
What?

lately, all I seem to uncover is how terrible technology is, from the industry to the products to the culture to the job prospects.

*I stumbled ass-backwards into software engineering. Right out of college, I was offered a few tech jobs and I was like “Nah, whatever,” but then that quickly became “Wait. How much money?”

And I saw the ageism trap immediately, but it was couched more as “career advancement path” than the true cautionary tale of “when how much money becomes too much money.”*

Basically, you coded for a few years, then you moved on to something else. If other coders generally listened to you? People management. If you were outgoing and chatty? Sales engineering. If you had a solid business vision? Maybe entrepreneurship.

And the list goes on — not a long list — and truthfully, not a lot of coders could or would make this transition. They either didn’t have the skills, or the coding money was just too good for them to jump

So a lot of developers just stayed behind their keyboards, heads down, not seeing what was coming.

Like any other job in the history of work, software development got easier over time. But since coding was something one could do regardless of their age or physical condition — carpal tunnel notwithstanding — experienced coders could easily pick up on these advancements and get more done in less time with better quality.

But then — so could brand new coders with no professional experience.

That happened. Code was slung. Literally. And over time, coding got dumber and dumber, the software got crappier and crappier, and the money got worse and worse.

Today, the cycle is culminating with Generative AI (GenAI). I am not joking when I tell you that people are — with a straight face — calling the writing of prompts for Gen AI “prompt engineering” and even “coding.”

But, as wrong as that is, I have to ask, how long can you sit behind the scenes and be anonymous and survive?

As I’ve transitioned my career over and over again, I’ve watched brilliant software developers quietly get awards, get bonuses, get gifts and trips, get everything but real authority equal to their contributions. This is why senior titles were invented. (carnival cash)

That first corporate tech job I took out of college, I was promoted to senior consultant in nine months. Come on, dude. I’m 23

We ate up senior titles and shipping bonuses and foosball tables and generally thought we could hide in the back and not have to wrest any authority over what was being delivered.

Ageism was never — and is never — warranted, and should never be accepted, but we allowed it to be conflated with a bullshit career path in return for generally being left alone.

How much longer are we going to keep accepting it? How much longer are we going to keep blaming “the man” and taking the checks and not taking control of our own destinies?