RE: Age discrimination -- MIDRANGE-L

I've been on the AS/400 for nearly 2 years.  I am the youngest person in 
the department.  I was 29 when I became the IS director here.  My 
predecessor was 55 and had been working with AS/400s and S36s and who knows 
what since the early 70s.  His age had nothing to do with his replacement. 
 I have heard that he had a lack of vision, and was unwilling to seek and 
implement any new technology, or take a leadership role in solving the IS 
problems.  He worked himself and his skills into a position where the 
company could no longer be happy and then he resigned after 25 years.  The 
lesson I got was that over the next 26 years, I need to stay current or I 
will be in the same position.

I do not have a college degree, and that has limited my ability to take 
just any job.  I have to hunt for them, and demonstrate what I can do for 
the company before I can take positions that someone with less experience 
and a college degree could just walk into.  I came here and took a huge 
salary cut to get the job, and since then have almost doubled my starting 
salary based on performance.

I do not believe that my age was or is still or will be an issue.  In fact 
I think they were subsequently surprised that I was not yet 30.   I think 
it was the vast amount of experience and my technical ability that got me 
here as an IS director.  Perhaps it was my confidence and ability to 
motivate the team.  Perhaps it was the fact that I traded salary for a 
trial period...  Whatever, It is possible to be good at something or better 
than other candidates with more experience and still be 29 years old.  It 
is also possible to sacrifice to make your point and reap the benefits 
after they get it.

On the other side of things: when hiring, I don't care how old or young a 
candidate is.  I don't care if they have a college degree, or if they have 
been working with computers since they were 10 years old as I have.  I want 
to see what that candidate can do with the knowledge and experience they 
have.  A candidate may have 30 years of experience, and still not be able 
to complete a project.  A candidate may be the best technical resource in 
the world with 30 years of experience in everything, but have a personality 
that won't work with the team.  A candidate may be my best friend and have 
all the training a product of our university system can have, but still 
have rocks in his head in place of talent.
---Bob

-----Original Message-----
From:   Robertson, Scott [SMTP:SRobertson@dpsciences.com]
Sent:   Friday, July 09, 1999 9:15 AM
To:     'MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com'
Subject:        RE: Age discrimination

Sounds like I'm keeping good company (for once)!

I too have been on the AS/400 since 1988, and am a whopping 40.  I was
running the 400 before I even had PC experience (discounting the assorted
Z80 machines I had in the late '70s).

Scott S. Robertson
Information Systems Manager
Data Processing Sciences Corp.
 <mailto:Srobertson@dpsciences.com> Srobertson@dpsciences.com
 <http://www.dpsciences.com> http://www.dpsciences.com



                -----Original Message-----
                From:   Jeff Crosby [mailto:jlcrosby@fwi.com]
                Sent:   Friday, July 09, 1999 8:34 AM
                To:     MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
                Subject:        Re: Age discrimination

                Greg Day wrote:
                
                > My kids remind me that I'm getting old, at the tender age
of 43. I've been
                > doing the AS400 gig since 1988, and I'm sure it's because
I love the thing

                I'm also 43 and also been on a 400 since '88

                > Did I tell you the one about the old
                > bull and the young bull sitting on top of their hill,
overlooking their
                > "flock" of cows........(another time maybe)

                I know that story.  And it's a good one. <g>

                --
                -Jeff
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