I am sure that this question will piss off some people, but that is not my intent. We are all in the same boat - I will be subject to it one day as well.According to Milton Friedman's view, who was not a theoretician, discrimination in the work place can only go so far, for there will be employers out there willing to pick up the overlooked talent based on their productivity alone, and those who base their hiring/salary decisions on wrong perceptions will be taken care of by smarter competitors. Starting own business is a form of competition.Age is obviously a huge factor in sports or a job that requires very hard manual labor. What about in software industry? Ageism does exist (or does it not?), but why?Some straight questions:Are corporations inherently evil and like to mistreat people just because?Are employers stupid / unorganized because they still liken software to construction industry?Are older folks less productive?Are they not willing to work crazy hours?Do they demand wages that are too high?Does it come down to hormones and primal instincts? In monkey societies testosterone is everything. What about in code monkey societies?Is ageism a myth after all?Do only the lazy ones (those who do not keep up) get lower salaries?Is it not about one's age but about having family and kids or not having it, thus influencing how much time on can spend keeping up with stuff?Do employers want to pay young people more because they like the way they look?Other?Are my questions not very relevant? If so, then why?I myself am not married yet, but I do not like to work extra hours. I do find some time to read up on things, but I have other interests as well. At the same time it is hard for me to compare my abilities to that of others of the same age; I have met both geniuses and dummies. I also do not really know how much other programmers, other than a couple of my friends are making. Even if I had a lot of data, how do I prove strictly the presence of ageism and the extent of it?Finally, what are some good ways for an individual contributor to maintain good salary level through older years?Thank you for your feedback.
Is ageism in software development based on anything other than bias?
career development