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Business & incomeExperience excerpt · English

I didn’t get a job at a company that anyone has heard of until I was 46 (AWS)

… I didn’t get a job at a company that anyone has heard of until I was 46 (AWS). My career before then was a journeymen enterprise developer until 2016 when I started leading projects. Now I still do hands on coding. But it’s now strategy cloud consulting specializing in “modernization” (ie app dev) with 50/50 client facing post sales architecture and coding and leading larger implementations. Now admittedly, one of my secrets is that I keep completely clean shaven of all facial hair so there is no signs of balding or grey and I’m in decent shape. No one can tell my age. According to Bill Burr it’s probably the lotion ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sSSrtbujO4 )

Original discussionLive coding interviews measure stress, not coding skills518 source comments · at import
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ChrisMarshallNYHN

> Amazoned We have a data point. I came from a world-class company, but it wasn't a MANGA, so I wasn't given the "implicit points" for coming from an environment with the right perfume. I was a radioactive 55-year-old. I almost never got to a second interview. As soon as someone figured out my age, the process stopped cold. I was usually ghosted. As for coding interviews, I spend exactly zero time practicing. I've seldom practiced for tests, and have usually done well. I do pretty well, under stress. That's been my life, since I was 22, or so. I do suck at simple college tests, like balancing btrees, because I have never encountered one in my work. I do well at the stuff I encounter regularly. As someone with no college degree, I found that absolutely no one has ever cut me slack, or given me the benefit of the doubt, so my entire career was having to prove myself, over and over again, …

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ChrisMarshallNYHN

I always say that our school gets us our first job, then that gets us our next job, and so on. But having a college degree on your CV does make a difference. Often, it's the HR screeners that are impressed with it; not the techs. I found that I usually got past the screeners, but the techs didn't like me. The educational creds didn't have anything to do with that. It was the lack of "cultural fit." The company I worked for, was a top-tier Japanese photographic equipment manufacturer. The Japanese are tough taskmasters. You don't last almost 27 years at a joint like that, on brown-nosing and jargon. But since I accepted my lot, I have been happier n' a pig in shit. I get to do code, seven days a week, ship regularly, and not have managers screwing up the party. Never knew it could be this good.

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scrupleHN

> “modernization” Glad to hear this isn't just something I'm encountering in isolation. My role at a BigTechCo (and I'm barrelling right through my mid-40s) could be summed with exactly that same word. > No one can tell my age. My beard finally started to grey and after about 2 years of that steady progression I shaved it off and now people treat me so differently. Even people who already knew me treat me differently. It's been quite the experience.

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