From John in Toronto: “It’s a personal favourite!”
04/26/19
Cracking the Tech Career (Book)
Author Gayle Laakmann McDowell claims to provide “insider advice” on landing a job at Google, Microsoft, Apple, or any top tech company. But nothing she suggests seems to apply to older workers–quite the contrary, as the entire book seems geared to applicants under 30. For example, she describes the tech interview culture by saying that “the employees don’t wear suits” and “post-lunch (or midmorning, or midafternoon) foosball and PingPong games are standard.” No room for older techies here? In her chapter on gaming, she writes, quoting Alessandra from gaming recruiting firm VonChurch, that “Technology firms are already young, fun-filled environments.” How about that for reinforcing negative stereotypes that marginalize older workers? And: “Indeed, the casual gaming industry is young, in terms of the trade itself as well as the employees.” Talk about shutting older, capable techies out. Ageist from cover to cover.
04/26/19
Running on "Generational Change"
Pete Buttigieg is running on “Generational Change”. “You have 30 seconds to introduce yourself, what’s the message of your campaign?” [the interviewer] asked.
“The reality is: When you take one look at me, my face is my message,” Buttigieg responded.
He’s very well spoken - When he follows up and explains why it sounds (almost, sort of) reasonable "A lot of this is simply the idea that we need generational change, that we need more voices stepping up from a generation that has so much at stake in the decisions that are being made right now.“
On the other hand… Reasonable or ageist?
Ageist. Saying we need fewer older people is like saying we need fewer gay people or people of color: it’s bigotry. It is unacceptable to discriminate against people on the basis of something they cannot change about themselves.
03/30/19