I *love* all the data exhaust coming out of Stack Exchange.
Here’s a simple chart demonstrating the correlation between the quality of a developer and age. Older hackers rule.
I think it’s funny we need a chart to show us experience is worthwhile. Our industry is so ageist.
Very ageist.
Hollywood and the tech space both are, but I think the underlying reason behind that is that many (Most? All?) of the success stories in both industries have to have a certain amount of calculated naivety to be as passionate as both industries require for success. You have to believe that you know more, are smarter, more creative, better positioned, luckier, and are just generally better than those who have come before you to be willing to give it a shot despite all the obvious and apparent failures. From that opinion comes a certain amount of ageism both in front of and behind the scenes.
Hollywood is obviously ageist when it comes to actors, but not-so-obvious is the blatant ageism towards writers, directors, executives, and every other BTS position that’s not a producer. Producers get the pass because they’re the money people, and everyone likes (and needs) access to money. Part of that is the decreasing ability to appeal to a younger crowd, sure, but you would think that in certain positions that don’t involve having to properly attenuate what a 17 year-old in Wyoming appreciates, age would be an advantage.
But that doesn’t necessarily apply when that calculated passionate naivety almost requires an assumption that those who have come before you were…well, mostly wrong.
Or at least that’s my take on it.
Yet another similarity between Hollywood and Silicon Valley / Alley…
Two things: Experience leads to quality, & younger devs are more likely to do rather than share. Whether it is their time/ability to answer or their lack of skill, it shows there is a gap of community sharing of knowledge with younger devs.
