Ask HN: Is ageism in tech still a problem?

Hiring practices and structural filters

• Many see the main problem inside companies: ATS filters, recruiters, hiring managers, and multi-round interviews that are costly for candidates and often ineffective.
• Leetcode-style interviews are viewed by some as de‑facto filters against older engineers who no longer remember college‑style algorithms or lack time to grind.
• Some hiring managers admit to an unconscious bias when seeing resumes going back to the 90s and try to counteract it with explicit checklists.

Workload, on-call, and life stage

• A recurring theme: companies prefer young engineers without family responsibilities who will accept long hours and 3am pages.
• Older engineers are more likely to say no to abusive on‑call or “campus” cultures, which some managers interpret as lack of commitment.
• There is debate about when 24/7 availability is truly justified vs evidence of dysfunctional systems and management.

Perceptions of older vs younger engineers

• Common doubts about older candidates: willingness to be on call, stamina for long hours, resistance to new tech, difficulty delegating “down.”
• Counterpoint: you can flip the same stereotypes onto 25‑year‑olds (job‑hopping, partying, chasing fads). Both sets of assumptions are seen as unfair.
• Some argue that many older devs are slower or more closed‑minded, which partially grounds ageism; others say skill, curiosity, and productivity are not correlated with age.

Culture fit and management dynamics

• Several describe “college‑like” or “high‑school‑like” startup cultures that implicitly exclude older people, especially when leadership is in its 20s–30s.
• Senior ICs say their willingness to call out bad decisions and not be easily exploited threatens insecure managers, independent of pure tech skill.

Market conditions and where ageism varies

• Multiple older engineers report 12–18+ months of unemployment while younger peers quickly land jobs after layoffs, with some explicit “we want someone younger/less senior” feedback.
• Others (especially contractors or embedded/industrial engineers) report little or no ageism and even preference for deep experience.
• Juniors are also struggling; some suggest the market is so bad that nobody is being hired, complicating the ageism signal.

LLMs, juniors, and the future

• One view: LLMs plus hiring freezes for juniors will create future demand for seasoned engineers who can design systems and fix AI‑generated “vibecoded” messes.
• Another view: LLMs are powerful learning tools, and there’s no guarantee they will produce a less‑skilled future cohort.

Coping strategies and attitudes

• Common tactics: trimming resumes to 8–10 recent years, omitting graduation dates, relying on remote/virtual interviews, and targeting older, more traditional industries.
• Advice to older devs: stay technically current, be open‑minded (including about LLMs), project energy and collaboration, but be realistic that structural bias and “othering” are deeply rooted and unlikely to vanish.