Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

The thing about age is, when you're 25 and you look at 35 and 45 year olds, you're amazed at how much they don't know. But when you're 45, and you look back on when you were 35, or 25, you're amazed at how much you didn't know.

The software profession is plagued by HR practices formulated by people who have zero understanding of software production. They think hiring 25 year olds is cheaper than hiring 45 year olds because they assume the output is the same while the cost is less.

Reality is a lot more complicated by that, and in terms of factors that determine the return for a given dollar in salary, age is is a complete wash. I don't think you can generalize on age at all.

As for H1B visas, we should get rid of the quotas. I've worked with 20-something Indian programmers. All have been good people. If they beat me out for a job, then so be it. I think companies that don't recognize the value of older engineers are shooting themselves in the foot, but that's their right to do so.



I'll make you a deal: we get rid of the H1B visa quotas as long as we start rigorously enforcing laws against collusion among the big companies to keep salaries down.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: