“There’s nothing special about being old. It just takes a long time.”
~ Robert Heinlein (speaking as Lazarus Long)
Our society worships youth to an absurd degree. Even when I was a “youth” (that is, enthusiastic and very dumb) I thought this was a pretty silly thing. I knew I didn’t know anything(1) and I was quite aware that mastery comes with experience and experience takes time plus willing dedication.
It has been many years now since I have been able to get a “real” job in the computer industry because of my age; as opposed to a self-employed job, helping hundreds of people right here in my own community… come to think of it, one might call that a real job, too. I’ll tell you, though, it’s vastly more satisfying than the typical corporate job in this mostly unexpected 21st century.
Actually, it’s not my age so much as it is my experience level.(2)
The computer industry has come to believe that any one over 35 years of age is “too old” to program. I have been told this, and have found plenty of articles up on the internet (from reputable sources, not just griping) that confirm it as well. To me this is utterly ridiculous, as it takes a minimum of 14 years of 60 hour weeks after college to make a master programmer (it really is a very demanding art), meaning that by 35 you might just be coming into your power as a programmer.
Meaning that there are no master programmers in the computer industry. (Not 100%, but for the most part.)
Which explains Microsoft Windows’ devolution and the increasing frustration of each update of Office. (Microsoft is not the only example of this, by any means; just the handiest.) They’re being crafted by journeymen programmers at best.(3)
Not my point. My point is that age discrimination is pervasive.
“I wouldn’t be young again for overtime wages.”
~ Robert Heinlein (speaking as Lazarus Long)
Senior discount. When I was a kid, a senior discount in a restaurant was when you were over 60, maybe even 65. Now it’s only 55. That’s absurd. It’s nice on the pocket book, but it’s also an insult. I rarely claim it, actually, because it’s demeaning. The hidden message here seems to be “Oh! You’re over 55, you must be living in poverty!”
Or, a survey, most any survey, that wants to know how old you are. What are the categories? Under 20, 20-35, 36-54, 55+. You know what? There’s an awful lot of space there after 55. We are a society that is living longer and longer all the time. I deal daily with 80 years-olds who are in fine physical shape, and good health. I know of a 90-something who golfs regularly and another who works out at the local gym every day, building some really buff muscles.
Cutting age off at 55 as a collective group for everything else is like saying “and all the rest of you, over here.” It’s insulting; it’s also statistically invalid.(4)
I remember a group of youngsters I was making sodas for one time (I’ve done a great many things in my life, and I’m still not sure what I really want to be when I grow up), and they asked my age. I told them (I was 40 something at the time) and they gasped, and then wanted to know why my hair wasn’t grey. I think those kids needed to get out more. It demonstrates, however, a mindset our society implants and even encourages in people to believe that a “high number” (like 40-something? Geez!) is OLD, and that’s a crime against the citizens of that society. If you think you are old, you then behave old, meaning decrepit!
I once overheard some folks looking through a real-estate guide and I actually heard the statement, “that’s 10 years, it’s too old.” I was flabbergasted (though I do a great poker face); to me, a house not yet 10 years old doesn’t yet have all the bugs worked out. A house that falls part in 10 years? Not worth the price of the land it was built on. Again, the worship of “youth” is every where, and far more pervasive than you may realize.
Then there’s “new and improved,” leave us not even get me started on that.
We equate Old with Decrepit! Houses, people, boxes of kleenex… old == no good. Our society pounds it in every day. (Along with several other similar coffin nails — hence this website, really.)
How many products are sold based on “how to look young now that you are over the hill?” Far too many, and most of them just snake oil products that truly should be outlawed as the flim-flam they are.
Me, I look forward to getting grey (not there yet! though there is some “silver highlight” starting to show up). It’s taken me most of my life to get as old as I am. Why should I be ashamed of it? Why should any one?
Mostly I’ve been embarrassed by how young I am. Pretty much all my life every where I go into I’m the kid in the room, no matter what age. It’s still pretty much true. That’s fine with me, though, because I’m still hungry for all the knowledge, experience, varied viewpoints that I can possibly grab on to. People who’ve been around the block a time or six are the ones I want to know, to ask questions of, or (more likely) simply to listen to and study.
“It’s not the years, it’s the mileage” ~ Indiana Jones
Ok… almost done on this rant. What I’m trying to say is this: watch out for the hidden programming about age that you have been subject to all your life, and are still being bombarded with.
Age does NOT equal decrepit!
Age does NOT equal Senile!
Age does NOT equal Feeble.
Age does NOT equal Out of Date.
There may or may not be some correlation between those things, but I guarantee there is no direct linkage. Enjoy the days of your life. Don’t quit living today because you are afraid tomorrow might not come. When you do that, you’ve thrown away an irreplaceable day.
Don’t fear germs; respect them maybe, but don’t fear them. Remember, life as we know it would be impossible without germs(5).
Listen to your doctor, but don’t make him into an ultimate authority, either. He’s a human like the rest of us, and knows only what he knows, no matter how authoritatively he might deliver his pronouncements.(6)
Don’t fear getting old, fer gossake! It’s not a privilege granted everyone, you know?
55+… gimme a break!
(1) Though I was frequently accused of believing I knew everything — another kind of age discrimination: the assumption of certain attitudes just because of one’s apparent age. I was quite aware I didn’t know much of anything at all. That is, I knew a lot — compared to the norm for my age bracket — but the thing is, the more you know you more you grasp how much there is to know — no one really knows a lot in any absolute sense. I was hungry and eager for more knowledge, for words of wisdom from those experienced in their crafts or life, etc.
(2) Huh? Yeah, weirdness. Most employers of programmers don’t want experienced folks. You will even see job ads for “no more than 2 years out of school.” There’s some very strange and extremely incorrect assumptions going on behind that. Some other time I may delve into it. No room for it in this article.
(3) footnote deleted… don’t worry about it.
(4) Alright, I gather that the reasoning behind this fairly standard practice runs something like this: “The age groups are divided up by their statistical behavior. 20 – 30 year olds behave differently from 40 year olds. So we collect data by age so we can tailor our ads to those specific groups. After a certain point [50, apparently] we find that they group is too set in its ways: either it’s been completely programmed to be the Good Consumer or it never will be, so we just lump them all together.” Something like that… I’m sure there are details to the reasoning I’ve left out. However, I find this ridiculous. Precisely the opposite is what they ought to try out, at least for a while. The over-55 group is potentially the strongest bunch of individuals, the most experienced and probably has the most of the money, as well. If you can convince them that your product is valuable, then you can convince any one. So, ask age this way: Under 55, 55-65, 66-75, 76-85, 86-100, 100+. That would wake a few drowsy heads and raise a few eyebrows, wouldn’t it? In 30 years, then, the same argument might apply to the 100+ age group. We’ll see when we get there, won’t we? 🙂
(5) “Germs” is a bad word, really. It’s too easy to lump in everything unseen into this category, to easy to turn it into just another form of magical thinking. The fact is that the majority of micro life are symbiotic; that is they are what makes macro life — us, trees, deer, and good farming soil — possible in the first place. Bacteria outnumber all other forms of life on this planet put together. Viruses [technically “virii”] are another story; no one really knows why they exist. They are not alive though, not in any ordinary sense, which is why “killing” them is kind of hard, you know? 🙂
(6) I had to suffer through several doctors over several years before I found one that thought those massive stag-horn kidney stones inside my kidneys might explain the incredible pain I was in. Believe it or not, ’tis true, ’tis true. Finally got them out, by yet another doctor who also wasn’t sure they were causing my pain but saw the obvious — they needed to be removed! [Soon as I woke up form the surgery, I knew that pain was gone. Say Thank’ee! The after-pain of the surgery itself was trivial by comparison.]