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Ageism in the tech industry
Even younger than you think

Ageism in tech industry: how old is old? [study]

Have you ever felt too old for a job? Who do you picture when you hear the word ‘developer’? You could be both suffering and guilty of the ageism bias that affects the tech industry as a whole – a matter that a recent research from the University of Gothenburg is diving into.

According to the researchers, Andrea Rosales and Jakob Svensson, tech culture has many different influences that make it geared towards youth. It has its origins in the hippie counter culture of the 1960s, multidisciplinary military research centres, hacker culture, as well as in entrepreneurial enthusiasm. A common thread is a modern belief in being at the forefront, a belief in changing the world, being bold and disruptive, and also having optimism about what technology can achieve – values that can be connoted to youth.

The study included 18 interviews with tech workers of various ages, including freelancers and a student, based in different parts of the world, like Bangalore, Barcelona, Berlin, Houston, Silicon Valley (including San Francisco and Oakland), and Tel Aviv.

The focus of the interviews was on the past, present, and future of the respondents’ professional careers and their perception of aging and ageism in their work environments.

What is ageism? 

Ageism refers to discrimination based on age, which is typically negative and against older people. It builds on stereotypes: social constructs or shared ideas about the characteristics of a particular social category. 

Stereotypes are cognitive structures widely used in social interaction. Individuals are often judged based on their assigned category, which may lead to discrimination – for example, sexism, racism, or ageism and which disregards all diversities in such wide collectives

Ageism does not only have consequences for corporate culture or individual employees but also affects society as a whole; it affects how products are developed, which products are developed and how effectively are addressed the needs of an increasing percentage of our society.

Read Also:  Ageism in the workplace: How it impacts women and how to end it

How old is old in tech?

Based on their sample, the researchers conclude that age in the contemporary tech industry is either perceived as young or as old, and the dividing line is between 30 and 35 in terms of when you transition from young to old.

Age expectations 

When it comes to age expectations, the younger tech workers reported working in startup companies, while the more experienced participants were expected to get positions in more consolidated companies, where the salaries were more adjusted to their level of experience and maybe more work-life balance. 

Older tech workers are perceived as less interested in technology and innovation, least likely to innovate and not kept up to date. 

According to the study, salaries are lower and working conditions worse in companies where most of the workers were young. Younger tech workers are expected to be inexperienced and need to work more hours to acquire the skills required or to be more productive. Conversely, older tech workers are assumed to be experts and often expected to go into management positions with more responsibility, such as project leaders, researchers, managers, even if they do not want to. 

“These managers in their 40s, the problem is that they don’t understand the real potential of this technology”, said quite bluntly a male programmer in Barcelona in his 20s

Read Also:  Tool to fight gender pay gap

Tech as a work environment in relation to age 

Tech’s roots are in hacker culture – its entrepreneurship and startup values – and this background has a strong impact on how work in the tech industry is perceived and conducted. Tech workers are expected to live for their company and work long hours, and the team is supposed to be their family.

One of the most common demonstrations of this mentality is the way in which tech companies often provide on-site entertainment, games, food, and drinks meant to encourage team-building, a practice that normally fits better with a young lifestyle, or at least for tech workers who have no family responsibilities. 

Obviously, a corporate culture that promotes team-building through a young lifestyle marginalises workers who prefer to not use on-site entertainment resources, or not to stay at the company premises after working hours. 

FUN FACT: when looking for a photo in Unsplash to illustrate the article, only a couple came up with the keywords ‘old man computer’ and none with the keywords ‘old woman computer’.

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