Contractor knacker yard

[quackhandle]

Ive even heard that one of the well known money comparison companies who are based near North Wales will 'not take on any contractor aged over 35.'

If we are thinking of the same place, I was there last year on a 3 month gig and was 39 when I started. Most of the permies I was working were older than me and the other contractors were of similar age to me. Didn't hear of any contractor "ageism".

qh

[eek]

If we are thinking of the same place, I was there last year on a 3 month gig and was 39 when I started. Most of the permies I was working were older than me and the other contractors were of similar age to me. Didn't hear of any contractor "ageism".

qh

Last time I interviewed there (11 years ago) it might have been ageist. I imagine however that most people have just got older over the years so its far less of an issue than it was...

[tomtomagain]

(Still sucks hitting 40 though.)

Yeah. But it's better than not hitting 40.

[tomtomagain]

If I was giving career advice it would be thus; start perm get a technical skill, switch to contracting for 10 years / or when you have enough / Switch back into the right perm role or do something else.

And that's not bad advice.

The danger I see in long-term contracting isn't hitting an age-related ceiling. It's getting stuck down a technological dead-end. For example, being a COBOL programmer in the 1990's or ASP.NET Web Forms developer today. As said by Expat earlier in the thread. It's hard to shake of legacy and make that jump from a dying technology to the next-big-thing.

Clients rightly expect the contractor they hire to have the skills they need and be competent at those skills and they are not in the business of providing the contractor with experience or exposure to newer up-coming skills. It's your responsibility as a contractor to keep an eye on the future direction of IT and ensure you are positioning yourself to pick up the new skills that will keep you marketable for the next decade. And that is easier said than done.

In defence of the oldies .... every team should have one or two, because they will often do or take on responsibility for stuff that the young-un's, who are really focused on the technology, don't want to do. You know, the boring stuff like, documentation or testing.


Keep learning. Keep flexible and professional and you shouldn't go too far wrong.

[BlasterBates]

I know a contractor who is 69. He's a bit worried he might find it more difficult when he hits 70.