Anthony
Topic: Technology/Science
Title: Bay Area Technology Professionals Can’t Get Hired as
Industry Moves On
Author: Aaron Glantz
Publisher: NY Times
Date: 1/28/12
Length of article: 2 pages
Silicon Valley may be booming again,
but times are still tough for the 200 out-of-work professionals. Most of them hold advanced degrees in
engineering and have more than a decade of experience in the technology sector.
They fill all of the seats in the City
Council chamber and spill out into the aisles.
While Web-based companies like Facebook and Google are scouring the
world for new talent to hire, older technology workers often find that their
skills are no longer valued. Why? “You’re
not going to get a job that’s going to be assembly and filing and coding,” Mr.
Hancock said, “and frankly, that can leave a lot of the older set a little
bewildered.” Some observers say much of
this language is just code for age discrimination. They point to the case of
Brian Reid, a 52-year-old manager who was fired by Google in 2004 — nine days
before the company announced plans to go public — after his supervisors,
including the company’s vice president for engineering operations, allegedly
called him a poor “cultural fit,” an “old guy” and a “fuddy-duddy” with ideas
“too old to matter.”
CONCLUSION
Technology companies are hiring less
and less old people, because of the stereotype that the younger generation has
better, more creative ideas. These
companies should handle job candidates on a case by case basis, and not immediately
write off a man with graying hair in favor of a younger candidate.
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