Ageism is alive and well.

[lisa jones]

Still trying to blame anything and everyone for your lack of employability.

Did you ever contemplate its not your age but your attitude that might be the reason why no one wants to give you a job? If your fuckwittery on here is anything to go by, I wouldn't trust you to empty the bins without having a fucking cry about the bin liners not being up to your high standards.

Sometimes IQ, your posts are amazingly spot on.

Soft Cock (aka Roach) is a typical leftard whinger. For him, that IS a full time job.

[Super Nova]

"Are you an over-45s IT pro who's struggling to find a role?"

Your article is valid.

I am in IT and 53 now.

I changed companies 4 years ago and now this issue is a real concern. However... this is what I think.

1. I think Australia is more ageist than Europe and in particular the UK. Oldies get a fair go in the UK.
2. To stay in IT you need to remain relevant. You need to have skills that are needed now and experience that is relevant to todays issues and technology.

I have managed to do this by:

- I choose to specialise in DEC VMS technology in the 80s that was the best but died commercially.
- I had to move or become irrelevant.
- Moving from being a technology expert to a generalist.
- Moving into project management of technical projects where my experience is still relevant but my technical skills are not needed. All I need today is be able to ask the right questions because things haven't changed that much.....for example:

- in my day we coded with a compiler and operating system.
- today, the coders rely on a large library base and coding patterns. They rarely invent anything fully from scratch. Commercial programming is more about assembling a bunch of calls to existing classes than writing anything from scratch.
- Object orientated just blows my mind because I an still stuck in the days of C ... rather than C++. I get the principles and can discuss it with designers but I decided I could not keep up. Fact... no-one will pay for a skill that the young ones come out of Uni being an expert on and I am rubbish at.

So the game is to be flexible, continue to learn, alter your path but in all things... remain relevant... commercially.

I continue to learn advance coding.... only so I earn the respect of the techies and they cannot pull a fast one on me...

[IQS.RLOW]

Its a fast moving game that isn't exactly brain surgery. It's quite easy to get a 20-30 year old who is competent with the latest tech. The old guys might have the knowledge of the old systems and how to set up a Novell network but most of this knowledge is completely unnecessary and the stuff the 30 year olds are working on now will also be obsolete within 5 years.

Most of the older guys will have no problems keeping up with the tech but will end up killing any younger guys working in the same office with their old war stories about the time they had to switch a system from unix to dos and why the management should have been fired for that decision, not to mention the time they migrate a system from PC-DOS to MS-DOS and don't get them started on the Y2K solution they came up with on that massive network that's saved the company millions...

[Super Nova]

I work with older guys that have specialised and keep up. They are doing fine and will always be in work.

If you are not specialised then it is more difficult to keep up because you have to invest in the winning technology. If you pick the wrong one... you had better learn fast. Having said that, technology is just that. A good technologist can adapt.

So the secret to addressing ageism.... is simple. You have to have something to offer that the young don't have and be relevant. if you choose to remain pure techie, you need to be prepared to stay up to date or die.

[IQS.RLOW]

For the most part, I wouldn't be worried about my age in IT, I'd be more worried about the Indian firm that can have 20 guys working on a project for the same cost as one or two here in Australia.

I've seen guys working on embedded systems coding remotely from India and Czech Republic who were much faster, wrote more efficient code and were cheaper to boot. A VPN, and Ethernet port and an ICE emulator and you don't have to worry about super, the unFair Work Commission, bitchy little employees that think they are more important than the project or the company or any other govt red tape designed to hamstring employers.

They say that despite insurmountable hurdles, "life" always seems to find a way. A good businessman will do the same.

[Super Nova]

For the most part, I wouldn't be worried about my age in IT, I'd be more worried about the Indian firm that can have 20 guys working on a project for the same cost as one or two here in Australia.

I've seen guys working on embedded systems coding remotely from India and Czech Republic who were much faster, wrote more efficient code and were cheaper to boot. A VPN, and Ethernet port and an ICE emulator and you don't have to worry about super, the unFair Work Commission, bitchy little employees that think they are more important than the project or the company or any other govt red tape designed to hamstring employers.

They say that despite insurmountable hurdles, "life" always seems to find a way. A good businessman will do the same.

Good point. the Indians are no longer second rate. They are good and getting better.

I am the PM on a project of Indians. My value add is... saying no to the customer.... they cannot do that.

[Outlaw Yogi]

And if you keep publicly lying about me being on the DSP....
I'll have to start complaining myself

Complain all you like you sooky professional victim.

So was being a psychotic enought to qualify for your DSP?
Or did you have to embellish your problems a bit to get on it?

Still trying to blame anything and everyone for your lack of employability.

Did you ever contemplate its not your age but your attitude that might be the reason why no one wants to give you a job? If your fuckwittery on here is anything to go by, I wouldn't trust you to empty the bins without having a fucking cry about the bin liners not being up to your high standards.

I wouldn't trust the cretin with the milk money.

[Rorschach]

And if you keep publicly lying about me being on the DSP....
I'll have to start complaining myself

Complain all you like you sooky professional victim.

So was being a psychotic enought to qualify for your DSP?
Or did you have to embellish your problems a bit to get on it?

Still trying to blame anything and everyone for your lack of employability.

Did you ever contemplate its not your age but your attitude that might be the reason why no one wants to give you a job? If your fuckwittery on here is anything to go by, I wouldn't trust you to empty the bins without having a fucking cry about the bin liners not being up to your high standards.

I wouldn't trust the cretin with the milk money.

I don't have the DSP you idiot... if you read what I wrote you'd know I asked a friend in centrelink about it moron.
I am not blind deaf or suffer from amputation so even if I wanted or needed to apply for it under the Libs I wouldn't get it.
Nor will people with chronic illnesses.
Nor will people who cannot afford to see specialists, because even if you have a serious problem, unless you can afford to see a specialist you are deemed not to have done enough to remedy your problem, if it is incurable or chronic, then they don't understand those words or the implications... so you are stuffed. I don't know how anyone on Newstart for example could ever afford to see a specialist.

I have a job, I am also attending Tafe... you need to stop listening to the idiot Tourettes.

BTW when I was unemployed, through no fault of my own.... I did what they call work experience and was highly regarded and sought after whilst working. I have references on my Cv from the people I worked for... all glowing... Unfortunately it didn't lead directly to a job.
There may be people with attitude problems here, but none of them is me

[Neferti]