> When i make it past all of them and land an interview, I face a series of final bosses: Generally, it’s the fresh-faced bay area 25 year old with a Steve Jobs complex dismissing me when they find out my dinosaur age of 42, or the moment they hear the words “php” uttered when they learn I was developing advanced php web apps when they were in diapers.
I'm about your age. I'd wonder how much of this is perception vs reality, tbh; while there _is_ ageism in the industry, people tend to overstress it a bit. Are you, in these situations, possibly reacting to something that's all in your head? Being interviewed by younger people is, at our age, fairly inevitable and shouldn't be seen as a problem; for that matter, your manager may well be younger than you too, and that's fine!
There _is_ some ageism out there, no question, but you'll do yourself no favours if you see it everywhere.
> Before AI was on the scene 3 years ago, I was already beginning a transition from individual contributor to engineering manager. I tried to greet my layoff at first with great positivity and enthusiasm for the opportunity it provided to step up to EM role.
Bit late now, but this _probably_ wasn't a great idea; it's very difficult for someone with no experience as an EM to be hired as an EM (and for good reason, honestly; an EM is a high-risk hire and a bad EM can destroy a whole team). If you do want to go this route, it's probably better to do it by going from IC to EM within the same job.
I'm about your age. I'd wonder how much of this is perception vs reality, tbh; while there _is_ ageism in the industry, people tend to overstress it a bit. Are you, in these situations, possibly reacting to something that's all in your head? Being interviewed by younger people is, at our age, fairly inevitable and shouldn't be seen as a problem; for that matter, your manager may well be younger than you too, and that's fine!
There _is_ some ageism out there, no question, but you'll do yourself no favours if you see it everywhere.
> Before AI was on the scene 3 years ago, I was already beginning a transition from individual contributor to engineering manager. I tried to greet my layoff at first with great positivity and enthusiasm for the opportunity it provided to step up to EM role.
Bit late now, but this _probably_ wasn't a great idea; it's very difficult for someone with no experience as an EM to be hired as an EM (and for good reason, honestly; an EM is a high-risk hire and a bad EM can destroy a whole team). If you do want to go this route, it's probably better to do it by going from IC to EM within the same job.