TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Like every other statement one can make about a subject, there are of
course many caveats, disclaimers, and qualifiers possible. And God
knows, we'll cover them all on this list sooner or later. I am making a
general observation, not formulating law or policy.
My own boss is younger than I am, as was the boss before him.
What I'm saying is that age discrimination has happened, I saw it
happen, and I've interviewed in situations where I have actually been
asked if I would be comfortable working for someone younger than me--and
then had my affirmative answer openly disbelieved. I have spoken to
other technical writers who were told (off the record, of course) that
they were considered "too old" for the position; the most common
euphemism employed was "overqualified".
Maybe this has happened to you. Maybe not. Are we going to argue about
whose experience is more valid? Silly waste of time. I'm not going to
change my opinion that age discrimination is rampant and nearly
ineradicable in Silicon Valley. Smart employers will hire experienced,
mature older workers; fools will not. As in any field of endeavor, the
fools outnumber the smart folks.
My advice to job seekers remains: try not to let on how old you are when
you interview for a job.
Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices. http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
