Your chances of being laid off grow exponentially with every birthday. Yes, some people will make it to retirement but that number has been going down each year. It's not fun to be in your fifties and have to worry more and more about what will happen if I'm laid off and about starting again somewhere new. I didn't expect I'd be spending my final years before retirement stressing so much.
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@vuh+1hAzSs20 nice generalization 🙄. (sit down)
The networking/netscaler team is filled with people who are close to retirement and they have no intention to learn new things nor are they open to new ideas. They have been with same group for 10-15-20 years. They are just there playing politics and offloading all their work to team in India. Additionally they seem to survive all layoffs (Go figure). Only of the way to revive dying business is to cleanup and get new leaders in place.
My message to all young people that need to prepare for what comes next: think and act like you're a self-employed person who has to prove their real worth every day.
Become recognized for a unique skill that few others in your role can master, and you're more likely to be indispensable to any employer that values this expertise.
Be curious and learn something new every week without fail. Don't listen to the negative voices in your head. Don't listen to people who are habitually negative.
Don't become that person later in life that looks back and wishes they had chosen a different path, done more to invest in themselves, and refused to let other people decide their future potential.
If you report to a pitiful middle manager at Citrix that's clearly inept, fire them now and go to work in a different environment that is worthy of your talent. Never settle for mediocre.
DO these things, and age won't matter in the long run. I know, I'm 67 and still working.
It is really not a case of keeping up with the technology. The reason for why many people in their fifties have gotten laid off is primarily because they are earning more money than a more junior person and are therefore seen as too costly regardless of their contributions and competence. I agree with the original poster that the older we get the greater the targets we have on our backs. Nowadays restructurings are something the majority of the tech companies are doing and when an arbitrary number needs to be achieved (e.g., lay off 10% of your workforce) the general formula is to go through your low performers and then focus on your more senior top earners. This model doesn’t apply to the ELT as they are running the show, but it will most likely apply to a middle manager who is of more advanced age and making more money than the peers. It is a very sad reality. What is sadder is that when the 50 year old applies to a new job he/she is likely competing with a person who is younger than him/her and companies would more likely than not hire the junior person arguing that they are more moldable. Tough reality, which will get much tougher as we enter into a recession.
Then why don’t older individuals keep up with recent tech? Seems they lose motivation when they’re on the cusp of retirement.