Shallow, perhaps. But the article isn't even about ageism; it's about vanity in the tech world. And it says as much in the title.
The best part:
"Neumann would be Odin, striding around with his retinue. He does look rather like a Viking."
Neumann is 6'5, skinny and "nerdy". Is that what the stereotypical viking looks like nowadays? The idea that being above average height makes you some physical specimen is absurd.
It's a problem but it's also an opportunity. Maybe I should only look at pitches from founders under 6ft, since I'll get a bargain playing off of people's dumb instincts.
That called being a contrarian investor, a successful strategy at times, but investing is "Keynesian beauty competition". To win such a game, one must bet on the contestant that one thinks is considerate most fair by all, not one's personal preference.
There are key differences between startup investing and that model. You just have to get sufficient amount of investors to recognize the diamond in the rough. Not a majority or anything near that. With enough money you don't have to convince anyone else.
There is reverse ageism in enterprise tech where experience counts for more than youthfulness. All the senior folks at enterprise positions are over 50. Companies that range from SAP, Oracle, IBM, Microsoft etc... tech is not just consumer-facing apps or startups. Try to get funding for an enterprise startup without having co-founders are 45 or older and have years of industry experience.
Yeah, I think the ageism comes from engineers who, for no fault of their own, have stayed in their positions for decades. All of sudden, they're 45 or 55 and earning senior comp at an 'enterprise tech'. These people are the usually the first to go because they are the most expensive. The senior execs are in a different position, where it may be viewed experience and seasoning complement the younger staffs' vision. A senior exec--with exit event or public company experience--tends to be very sought after.
I'm not surprised that attractive people, all else being equal, are likely to be more successful in life than someone who is not, but that applies to almost everything and has nothing specifically to do with "tech."
The vanity described in the article is not something I've seen in European tech scene were tech wages are lower and more on par with all knowledge based jobs, outside of management consulting, medicine and law. I feel people here get into tech because the enjoy it, not because it's a quick way to get rich, because it definitely isn't.
To me, it seems like vanity just follows the money and has nothing to to with tech specifically, making such articles fairly pointless. 30 years ago it was Wall Street now it's SV and with all that VC money floating around it's bount to attract various types of personas.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 34.3 ms ] threadWhat I wanna know is how difficult it is for that 50+ veteran with 25+ years of experience to find an engineering position in today's market.
Shallow, perhaps. But the article isn't even about ageism; it's about vanity in the tech world. And it says as much in the title.
The best part:
"Neumann would be Odin, striding around with his retinue. He does look rather like a Viking."
Neumann is 6'5, skinny and "nerdy". Is that what the stereotypical viking looks like nowadays? The idea that being above average height makes you some physical specimen is absurd.
I looked them up, expecting them to look like actors from Vikings or LotR, but they looked rather average to me.
But I also couldn't understand the hype about the Snap CEO, who looked to me like an average nerd put in some fancy suite to me.
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/...
The vanity described in the article is not something I've seen in European tech scene were tech wages are lower and more on par with all knowledge based jobs, outside of management consulting, medicine and law. I feel people here get into tech because the enjoy it, not because it's a quick way to get rich, because it definitely isn't.
To me, it seems like vanity just follows the money and has nothing to to with tech specifically, making such articles fairly pointless. 30 years ago it was Wall Street now it's SV and with all that VC money floating around it's bount to attract various types of personas.