Re: not enough real programmers? (was Re: Byte Magazine: 18 Vintage issues, 1985-1986)

[gillies@cs.ubc.ca (Donald Gillies)]

"jsnyder" <jsnyder@trelis.com> writes:

>This has been my experience over the last six months that I have been
>looking for a job;  25 years in the industry, h/w and s/w design.  But I
>don't fit neatly into the skill sheet that the HR droids use.  I even had
>one tell me that I didn't have the required qualification of writing
>'firmware' even though my resume lists 10 years of embedded work.

I think that as you grow older you can no longer compete for the
entry-level jobs.  If you are looking for an entry-level job at age
50, people look at you as if there must be something wrong with you,
why hasn't your career made progress ??  This is just another form of
age discrimination...

Here are some computer-industry quotes from Data General management,
from about 15 years ago ...

"We like to hire young people fresh out of college, because they don't
know what's impossible."

"We tell our new hires that here's a 6-month project and we'd really
like to see you PROVE yourself' and finish it ontime.  Then, we give
them an impossibly hard/large project.  Nobody ever finishes, but this
way we work their asses off and get a lot of production right away.
Occasionally, some superstar idiot will finish on time, they say, 'ok,
let's just write this into your job description : performs miracles ON
DEMAND...'"

- Don