Age: A Factor?

You're right. Companies in Silicon Valley don't like older engineers. Been there 28 years before I retired. So I know the turf.

They like young engineers because they have the physical energy, naivety and lack of outside commitments that enable them to work long hours for which their primary compensation is often worthless stock options. It matters not that the manager has nobody who can solve difficult engineering problems. Seldom will the work of his people be evaluated in the short run for anything more than quantity and on schedule completion. By the time problems show up in the marketplace he will be long gone up the promotion ladder. And his excuse will be that he did the best he could with all those junior engineers he was given.

The reasons why Silicon Valley doesn't like older engineers is based on the high tech nature of the businesses. They derive their technological leadership from the rapid pace of scientific discoveries. Note: Scientific discoveries; not engineering advances. Their technological leaders, often brilliant PhD's CEO's and CTO's come largely from the world of science. As their companies grow they realize that their lack of broad management/financial skills require leaders with established business track records. Seldom do these managerial types bring a lot of technical skills to the party. Mediocrity breeds mediocrity; but that is OK when the new technology is truly revolutionary and disruptive. Engineering excellence can come later. What is important is getting the product to market as fast as possible. Of course this approach can backfire. Steve Jobs knows about this. But then the science in his products is hardly ground breaking. Their marketing is a different story.

The promotion tracks in high tech companies seldom have room for engineers. The management has little respect for engineers often regarding them as overpaid electricians, plumbers and draftsmen. Just another commodity skill needed to make the business work.

You've got to understand what the average phD went through to get doctoral work done and his dissertation approved. Tenured faculty advisors treat these students like dirt. The student carries this role model burned in his mind into his later roles as a manager.

So the managers in these high tech company promotion tracks get very uncomfortable when a senior engineer with a lot of operations experience knows more about how to solve routine operational and technical problems than they do. Especially when the engineer is 10-20 years their senior. They much prefer a breed of "lesser" "yes" men who are no intellectual challenge.

There's another problem in the large corporate structure. The most proficient problem solver can be tarred by the problems he is called on to solve. Often he is an engineer who is long on engineering skills and short on the political skills that would have helped him avoid the "loser" projects. He makes good scapegoat material. He is doomed as soon as he gets associated with a loser project in the eyes of all those big egos above him in the hierarchy. This is an excellent way to get rid of an engineer that is an intellectual challenger to the manager.

The one formula for an older engineer to survive in Silicon Valley is to keep his technological skills as they relate specifically to his industry at the very top and adopt the attitude that his most important job is to identify with his boss and make him look good. It helps here to have a boss that is on a rising promotion track.

Ed Weldon

This is the best news ever, except for those working in Silicon Valley. What a boost it is for all of us who live in other parts of the world that the companies in Silicon Valley are being so charitable - forgoing their competitive edge (and profit margins) - so that we can compete more easily. I remember taking on guys at 63 years old and they made a brilliant contribution.

On a serious note, I am always surprised that companies do not take advantage of the balancing of high energy (it is often perceived that younger people have this) and wisdom (the older group?). The same can apply to diversity if properly managed. Where I have seen these well managed the profits seem to remain good.

I now work in the oil and gas industry where increasing age seems to be an advantage (for now!).

It's not just happening in Silicon Valley, it's everywhere in the U.S. There was never a shortage of engineers – there's always been a shortage of CHEAP engineers. The young kids are attractive only because they're too stupid to realize how they're being exploited. Short-sighted thinking by upper management has caused the U.S. to lose its world technical lead and enter a major recession (which has been going on far longer than the press or politicians will admit). These executives don't realize how much profit they've cost themselves by booting out experience and embracing mediocrity.

But I wouldn't jump into management. With production faltering so are profits, and many managers are being cut too. Product or project management is the worst of two worlds – you are saddled with all of the responsibility but have no power to make anything happen. If you can throw ethics out the window then you can go into sales – after all, the definition of the ideal salesman is the guy who can get money for absolutely nothing (and that's all the company has left to sell).

My advice, since you asked for it, is to:

1) Become debt-free as quickly as possible. Lean times are coming so better not to owe. And there's power in not being dependent.

2) Fund two savings accounts: one to live on, and another for new ventures.

3) Temporarily prolong your job by identifying the most useful executive to brown-nose. You need to keep income until you can move on.

4) Use your experience and skills to identify a good niche for yourself, preferably as a one-man corporation (such as consultant or technical guru). At some point the company's short-sightedness will put it in a bind, and you want to be in the position to save them (at high profit) or take the market away from them.

5) Prepare a Plan B, which is a whole different career path than you've been on, in case your choice of niche doesn't pan out.

6) Once you get your new career going, do not revert back to your old situation. It is okay to go back only if the price and terms are very good. Still, the reason(s) that chased you away before are probably still there so don't delude yourself that it will be better this time.

7) Maintain a network of all of the competent people that you've worked with. This could be the basis for new opportunities – even new business ventures. However, never allow anybody who gave you problems in the past to become part of your new ventures.

It's a myth that old people, especially technical people, are too slow and lazy and rigid and inflexible. Their experience is much cheaper than dumb mistakes. Some seniors might be the product of poor work environments, but most can regain their spark (if they ever really lost it in the first place). Yes, you risk health problems, but their higher productivity still trumps fickle and inexperienced kids.

But the saddest part of this whole aging-out thing is that most technical careers have become so short that they're not economically viable. If you can only expect a 25 year career, that's not long enough to pay off a mortgage let alone put kids through school. Engineering school enrollment continues to drop, and for good reason. The kids aren't completely dumb – they see what's happening to their parents so they're going elsewhere. Service industry jobs do not support the GNP. We can continue to expect recession after recession as long as we keep up this stupidity.