Contractor knacker yard

[unixman]

Hello folks,
I wanted to ask contract software developers a question that might be come across contentious; unintentionally l must add.

What age do you feel it's game over in the contracting world given that allot of devs are young pups (just an observation of people around me in my company). Is there age discrimination like in the permie world?

Lighting the blue touch paper, stand well back...

You have one advantage over the under 35s, viz. a proper, rigorous education tested under demanding exam conditions. No coursework. Proper, hard O levels or GCSEs. Tough A levels. And perhaps a degree that required years of solid concentration and work to obtain.

[aoxomoxoa]

Lighting the blue touch paper, stand well back...

You have one advantage over the under 35s, viz. a proper, rigorous education tested under demanding exam conditions. No coursework. Proper, hard O levels or GCSEs. Tough A levels. And perhaps a degree that required years of solid drinking and last minute cramming to obtain.

FTFY

[pr1]

Lighting the blue touch paper, stand well back...

You have one advantage over the under 35s, viz. a proper, rigorous education tested under demanding exam conditions. No coursework. Proper, hard O levels or GCSEs. Tough A levels. And perhaps a degree that required years of solid concentration and work to obtain.

not sure how much of this matters compared to the experience/ability to deliver a job after doing it for 10/15/20/25++ years

all it shows is that 20+ years ago you were able to pass the tests that were put in front of you

[NotAllThere]

Lighting the blue touch paper, stand well back...

You have one advantage over the under 35s, viz. a proper, rigorous education tested under demanding exam conditions. No coursework. Proper, hard O levels or GCSEs. Tough A levels. And perhaps a degree that required years of solid drinking and last minute cramming to obtain, at tax payers' expense.

FTFY

FTFTFY

[expat]

not sure how much of this matters compared to the experience/ability to deliver a job after doing it for 10/15/20/25++ years

all it shows is that 20+ years ago you were able to pass the tests that were put in front of you

It's not "all that shows", "compared to the ability" etc: if you have the ability to pass demanding tests of certain types then you are more likely to have the ability to deliver; the experience is of course a different matter.

But I would contend that, for example, someone who was able to get a good A-Level Maths is more likely to have the ability to be a good programmer than someone who wasn't.

Bearing in mind Dijkstra's dictum that "learning a language does not make you a programmer; learning to think does that". Maths tests, or Physics tests, or IQ tests (which correlate well with mathematical ability) are not conclusive but are good indicators of the analytical ability and logical rigour that are essential for good programming.

[LondonManc]

Age makes no odds to me. For a contract role I've seen that age comes into it less because there's a short term, get the project delivered attitude where I want experienced people who know how to deliver. I don't want green passengers.

[MrMarkyMark]

Age makes no odds to me. For a contract role I've seen that age comes into it less because there's a short term, get the project delivered attitude where I want experienced people who know how to deliver. I don't want green passengers.

Strange thing is, the thing that inspired me into contracting was the 65 year old contractor that came to fix the network, at my first perm job.
The network guys had spent a week trying to fix it, this guy fixed it in two days and netted 3K for his trouble.

[uk contractor]

Yes, but the client would have seen your CV and this would have to match with the clearence, therefore they could make a good guess at your age.
It may just be the case that I contract to IBs, where screening and reporting back to the client is very tight, where I could forsee this as a problem.

I only work @ IB's & pass security clearance when I am asked to but still leave off some contracts from my cv. Only ever go back 10-15 years max any further just dates you & is usually a massive handicap IME!


No-one is going to give you a contract just because you did something several years ago its usually based on the last few recent roles anything else is CV filler & of little relevance IME.

[unixman]

Lighting the blue touch paper, stand well back...

You have one advantage over the under 35s, viz. a proper, rigorous education tested under demanding exam conditions. No coursework. Proper, hard O levels or GCSEs. Tough A levels. And perhaps a degree that required years of solid concentration and work to obtain.

...and of course you started programming for leisure at the age of 13. At home. Nobody under 30 did that.
...quite possibly you stayed up all night programming for fun on a couple of occasions...
...as well as doing programming at school in your Computer Studies O level class...

[LondonManc]

I only work @ IB's & pass security clearance when I am asked to but still leave off some contracts from my cv. Only ever go back 10-15 years max any further just dates you & is usually a massive handicap IME!


No-one is going to give you a contract just because you did something several years ago its usually based on the last few recent roles anything else is CV filler & of little relevance IME.

Helps to keep the cv at a readable length too.