RE: Overt age-ism

I'm sorry to hear it.  I'm sure a lot of us on this list are in danger of
having the same experience.  I've only been programming for 6 yrs and I know
I've shocked a couple of people on job interviews when they compared my
resume to my face.  I think the code phrase for "too old" that I encountered
when I applied for jobs doing substantially the same thing as I had been
doing was "technically light."

There was an article in InfoWorld a while back about what to do about age
discrimination in hiring where the most practical strategy any of the people
they interviewed had to offer was "dye your hair."  'Course you can sue them
if it's employment related and they're stupid enough to mention age  any
you're willing to wait a long time for the results.  As far as dealing with
the anger, I find fantasies involving high explosives, incendiary devices,
and automatic weapons pretty fulfilling, but I wouldn't recommend them for
everyone.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: HankHeath@aol.com [mailto:HankHeath@aol.com]
> Sent: Friday, November 05, 1999 12:30 PM
> To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
> Subject: Overt age-ism
> 
> 
> It finally happened. My design scheme back-fired on me.
> 
> I have a young face. I used to get carded at bars well into 
> my thirties, it's 
> that young. I grew a beard. I let my gray hair show when it 
> came in. I wore 
> glasses when contacts would work. Anything to look a little 
> older and be 
> taken seriously in the workplace. In one location I was told 
> that I had the 
> perfect look for a consultant. It was great.
> 
> Until today. I was told at two different places that I was 
> too old for the 
> contract. Straight out. Now, in the world of work, that would 
> be an illegal 
> thing to say. But in the world of consulting, apparently it's 
> ok to say. I 
> was shocked. I was angry. It was the first time in my life I was 
> discriminated for anything other than lack of experience or 
> training (easy 
> things for me to overcome). 
> 
> I turned to my wife, and said that now I am starting to 
> understand (just 
> starting, thank you) why minorities and women get testy about 
> this. It is not 
> a good feeling.
> 
> So, to take a bad thing and attempt to make something better 
> out of it: has 
> anyone else experienced over age-ism lately? My experience 
> seems to indicate 
> it is on the rise, but I'm usually late in discovering trends 
> like this. How 
> do you cope with it? Are there good strategies to overcome 
> it? Are there 
> support groups to help deal with the anger? I'd like to know.
> 
> Hank Heath
> HLHeath Consulting
> Ph: 801-209-0091
> +---
> | This is the Midrange System Mailing List!
> | To submit a new message, send your mail to MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com.
> | To subscribe to this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-SUB@midrange.com.
> | To unsubscribe from this list send email to 
> MIDRANGE-L-UNSUB@midrange.com.
> | Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: 
> david@midrange.com
> +---
> 
+---
| This is the Midrange System Mailing List!
| To submit a new message, send your mail to MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com.
| To subscribe to this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-SUB@midrange.com.
| To unsubscribe from this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-UNSUB@midrange.com.
| Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: david@midrange.com
+---