We all know age is a liability at IBM - there was a whole article on that a while ago - but is there a place where it's not? Where somebody in their late forties and up can find a good job that pays well? Because I've been looking, and I haven't been able to find them,...
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The days of meeting in a board room with your nerdy IT team are over.
Most IT work is done remote and nobody cares how old you are.
Over 55 and just got hired as a software developer at Bay Area startup (after 30+ years at IBM). There are companies that value talent, no matter what age.
The job market is so hot, companies are having retention issues and they know I don’t plan to job hop in 2 years.
Depends on what you want to do. If you want to be a heads down software developer, then you'll find life hard no matter where you go if you're over 45. It's far cheaper to hire kids out of college.
However, tech companies, especially those populated by a lot of 35 and unders, are always in need of grownup leadership and generally are less forgiving about age if you're willing to come into a leadership role like management, project manager, architect or even principal engineer.
The other place to look if that's not your speed is hospitals and government work. Generally, hospital IT divisions are a mess though, with lots of "shadow IT" happening. Goverment work can be soul s---ing with all the paperwork too, but if you're just looking for a paycheck, it can work.
Crime and prison.
YbJuvub-btx is correct with "Lawyers and doctors. Definitely not in tech."
YbJuvub-rvc is correct with "Government contracting, especially defense contracting where security clearance is required."
What the both of them have in common is the blessings of government. If you want employment security in your old age, I would highly suggest that you start by appealing to government. Grease the right palms! Physicians serve as gate-keepers between you and your meds. If you are a degreed EE, make the right campaign contributions, and you might be able to demand a pr-scrip-ion from the mere mortals, before they can but a PC or an alarm clock radio.
Get smart and move to a red state.
Within IBM: the board and (alpha) line managers and leads. They may lack in innovation but will experience neither layoffs nor age discrimination.
Lawyers and doctors. Definitely not in tech.
Government contracting, especially defense contracting where security clearance is required.
Hospices and other terminal care centers. Young folks find them too depressing to stay there long.