The tech world, especially on the West Coast of the U.S., is getting a poor reputation - from the "bro-grammer" culture to tales of sexual harassment (and worse).
It probably needs to reinvent itself on many levels, with ageism the one that already has plenty of data available in order to illustrate the problem.
These days, you don’t have to look far to find news stories about lawsuits, age bias, declining salaries after a certain age or other takes on this persistent problem. What was once tech’s “elephant in the room” is still the elephant in the room—but it’s making a lot more noise.
But while stories about anxious tech workers in their 30s getting plastic surgery to conceal their age make good headlines, we don’t need to look to such extremes to find evidence of the problem. It’s there in the cliched but widespread perception that employees need to be young to have a good grasp of the latest technology.
And it’s there in startup cultures that push for long hours and low pay, which are hardly friendly to older workers with families. And as firms battle to attract young talent with ever more extravagant perks, they can unintentionally create an environment and culture that excludes older workers.
But just how widespread is the problem?