c0lo writes:
"New Republic runs a story on what seems (to me) to be an exaggerated obsession among Silicon Valley techs of needing to look young, even going to the extreme of undergoing cosmetic surgery.
Says the author:
In talking to dozens of people around Silicon Valley over the past eight months, engineers, entrepreneurs, money-men, [and] uncomfortably inquisitive cosmetic surgeons, I got the distinct sense that it's better to be perceived as naive and immature than to have voted in the 1980s.
The spirit seems to be captured best by the motto of a large I.T. services company operating in the bay: 'We Want People Who Have Their Best Work Ahead of Them, Not Behind Them.'
The story also cites Dan Scheinman, a former Cisco acquisition head who's proposal for Cisco to buy VMWare back in 2000 was not cleared by the Cisco's bureaucracy, who says that:
during a meeting with two bratty Zuckerberg wannabes, it hit him: Older entrepreneurs were 'the mother of all undervalued opportunities.' Indeed, of all the ways that V.C.s could be misled, the allure of youth ranked highest. The cutoff in investors' heads is 32. After 32, they [the V.C.] start to be a little skeptical.
The economics of the V.C. industry help explain why... Whereas a 500 percent return on a $2 million investment would be considered remarkable in any other line of work, the investments that sustain a large V.C. fund are the 'unicorns' and 'super-unicorns' that return 100x or 1,000x.
Finding themselves in the position of chasing 100x or 1,000x returns, V.C.s invariably tell themselves a story about youngsters. 'One of the reasons they collectively prefer youth is because youth has the potential for the black swan,' one V.C. told me of his competitors. 'It hasn't been marked down to reality yet. If I was at Google for five years, what's the chance I would be a black swan? A lot lower than if you never heard of me. That's the collective mentality.'
Speaking for myself, it almost makes falling for the sin of using cliches and exclaiming "Stop the world, I need to get off. I'm too old for this BS." What about you my fellow soylentnews netizens?"
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 24 2014, @12:38PM
Suck it up, geezers. Wait, that's me.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday March 24 2014, @12:52PM
Isn't there something to be said about how obvious it is when one has had plastic surgery? Is a freakish, artificial appearance like a plastic man from a Primus video or battery commercial really an improvement over dignity?
Well, it doesn't matter anyway -- Silicon Valley is rapidly turning into a hated institution, even among youths, and is on the fast-track to representing income inequality as much as the banking and other finance sectors. Maybe the backlash will foster a new trend among youths: anti-technology luddite-ism. They will go outside, develop social skills, and finally be able to sit still and stand to listen to themselves think.
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Monday March 24 2014, @01:03PM
Me too, but luckily I fall under "naive and immature".
(Score: 2, Insightful) by ngarrang on Monday March 24 2014, @12:46PM
Could it also be that young single programmers are willing to be paid less and work longer hours for the honor and glory of a new product? For being on the cutting edge? Older programmers will have families, less incentive to code for 40 hours straight, demand more money, insurance, etc.
(Score: 2, Informative) by dr zim on Monday March 24 2014, @01:13PM
So, in a word, exploitable?
(Score: 1) by ngarrang on Monday March 24 2014, @01:46PM
You can only exploit that which cannot fight it. These youthful programmers know they cost less and enjoy the additional work-risk. It is a rite of passage in some eyes.
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Monday March 24 2014, @05:06PM
I don't think it's necessarily exploitation. Some of these startups sound like fantastic places to work. I'd love to have a job where I can code for 40 hours straight, and work with really smart people (although I would want the 'proper' pay and benefits).
I actually recently applied to one where I would have been the second oldest person in the company, and about double the average age. I didn't get the gig, although I don't think age was a significant factor.
(Score: 5, Informative) by VLM on Monday March 24 2014, @01:22PM
More reckless is the highest priority. If the point of the game is to play the lotto over and over to get 1000x returns off a zillionth of the investments and all the rest will fail, then you need players who are too dumb to understand the odds.
But you can't say in public that you invest your investors valuable money in risk taking lunatics, so its um... youth! Because there's a demographic group that's legendary for taking dumb risks.
If elderly programmers were legendary for taking idiotic risks so someone else can cash the lotto ticket if they somehow stumble accidentally upon one, then we'd be flooded with endless memes about how VCs "value the seasoned opinions of the elderly, and there's just something they manufacture Depends out of that makes their wearers inherently more successful".
Its actually very similar to the military. "Hey you dumb kids, go die taking that meaningless hill so I can get a great efficiency report at promotion time" And believe it or not, the kids are dumb enough to go do it! Tell that to a wise older guy like me and I'd be all "uh, you go first"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by skullz on Monday March 24 2014, @12:48PM
Did a quick Wikipedia check and it looks like Linux, BSD, jQuery, Hadoop, Google and HP were all started by people under 30.
C, C++, Python, Java were done by geezers like me.
So I guess the moral of the story is you need young hipsters to stand on the shoulders of giants to make buckets of money. Except the geezers never get invited to the IPO party...
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Monday March 24 2014, @02:08PM
That sounds quite bitter. Insightful and largely correct, but bitter.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by mechanicjay on Monday March 24 2014, @01:42PM
Now that 30 is a couple years behind me, I find that the last number of years I've spent honing my craft are really starting to pay dividends in speed and quality of work, as well as some professional recognition here and there.
There is an old addage about needing to do something for 10,000 hours before you're an expert at it. Assuming an 8 hour work day, that puts you somewhere around 7 or 8 years to become an expert in your particular field. Now that I'm there, I'd say that's probably about true.
I guess innovation has passed me by, now that I know what the hell I'm doing.
My VMS box beat up your Windows box.
(Score: 2) by Jaruzel on Monday March 24 2014, @04:05PM
The problem with this is, tech-companies don't want 10,000 hour experts like you and me, they want cheeky-chappie 20-somethings in skinny jeans and square glasses with nothing but a good idea and a URL pointing to where they can download the latest trendy 'framework'.
I'm seeing this everywhere these days - Why innovate when you can just licence/use some other guys work ?
I feel like a dinosaur that's been run off the plain by all these upstart mammals. I'm only in my early 40s, but in this industry now... retirement can't come fast enough for me.
-Jar
Wash at 40°C, and hand dry only. My MUD Engine [jaruzel.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by WanderCat on Monday March 24 2014, @01:47PM
This is exactly why I, after 27 years working for several different companies in different IT capacities, switched careers altogether.
I now use the problem solving, planning, and organizational skills I built up over time working in something completely unrelated to IT. I have never felt freer and more productive in my life. The only down side is that, once people find out I have an IT background, I still get all kinds of IT questions and requests. But, in my new position, I am, at last, free to help or decline.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Teckla on Monday March 24 2014, @03:08PM
Don't leave us hanging. What's your new career?
(Score: 2) by kevinl on Monday March 24 2014, @03:18PM
Not the OP, but I too left IT. After a disasterous stint back in it recently, I am out for good. Physical engineering from now on.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 24 2014, @05:16PM
Well, what are you doing now instead of IT?