Discussion on:

Keep your mind sharp to defeat ageism in IT consulting

I ordered the RTFM shirt here: http://www.spreadshirt.com/rtfm-deus-ex-machina-green-on-black-t-shirt-C3376A8577425#/detail/8577425

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj121/HAL9000_photo/DSC02888_zps2e5300ef.jpg

My only current problem with it is that several of the clients try to steal it off my back.

Col

Thought I'd get my bit in. I'm over 70 and still getting consulting jobs - mainly in the field of database development and data management. I laugh when a 50 year old says they're getting old.
Great article and obviously Chip has a good bit of behavioural and health knowledge. Note however that Omega fatty acids are not all the same, 3's and 6's should be in balance but modern diets are more heavy on the 6's - which can be bad.

fends off age related disabilities. My Mum who will now admit to be almost 22, qualified for a PhD a couple of years ago. She's currently teaching my brother how to use a PC...

It's up to us. Keep doing the same old stuff, spend your time watching the idiot box, instead of lubricating the thinking engine, you seize up.

Course in terms of ageism, this is only useful if you are given the chance to prove you haven't fossilised your intellect.

I like the beard!

Closing in on 65 and still a full time field engineer. Clients have grown with me and brought their kids. Now more younger, eager and with the means to stay abreast of the newest toys. Just like always, things break and need to be fixed or replaced. Not many under fourty will climb a ladder to adjust a dish or pull cables through underground to hide a satelite dish in a tree. If you slow down, it will catch up with you but only if you let it. Age is a number but cannnot be judged alone.

In my experience, the younger technician tends towards the quick fix rather than the long term solution - because the latter requires listening to all of the problem. The older man usually comes with a network of colleagues and contacts where not only can he seek (free) advice that can be passed on, but also to whom he can delegate those parts of the solution that he is not up-to-speed on.
I am 67 and still well appreciated by my customers and the firm I work part-time for - even to the extent of getting birthday cards from customers! On a consultancy level I come not as a single person, but a backed-up resource. And I remember to say NO to customers when their solution can be done but not within their budget!

I'm 63-1/2. I started my consulting firm just over 25 years ago. I still have my first customer, and several others in the 15 to 20 year old relationship range.

I find that my age is a benefit. I know WHY things work, having been around as the industry laid layer after layer of complexity over relatively simple processes. Knowing the history of how a process got to be so complex can be a HUGE benefit in trying to determine why failed now.

Perhaps its my ancient Mechanical Engineering background, but I think that calling something a Complicated Solution to a Simple Problem is about the worst insult you can utter, but thats our world today.

By the way, I thought I invented the acronym RTFM, but I probably heard it along the way somewhere. On the other hand, I guess SOMEBODY must have invented it, and Ive been using it for years. Love the shirt!

Last By The Way: Your beard looked great, but your clean-shaven face looks much younger. Honest. I really should shave off my 43 year old mustache like Alex Trebeck did (he looks younger without it), but I think Id shoot myself first.

Keep up the great insight articles!

It is amazing how the young are rediscovering what we 'old timers' have known for decades.

Chip only one fail in this article. A recommendation, make love to a women at leas one time per week. This is marvelous to look younger, if not, nobody can not see your big an fresh smile

Oh, yeah. Old minds.

Yeah, my dreams of being a wiz-kid in a dot-com start up long have faded, but I'm okay with it.

Believe it or not, there are plenty of potential employers out there not the least bit interested in youthful drama or excitement, and want solid, reliable, economical and mature IT experience. They need a job done on time and on budget, and nothing beats maturity and experience in selling that.

First, this is great article, thanks!

Second, I know I've been discriminated against for age. Imagine this, great interview ending in chit chat. You leave feeling great. It's a contract, the rate it great you're ready to go.
The next day you get the call; They're passing because they feel you are OVERQUALIFIED!! Huh?? How can you be overqualified for a contract? Isn't that what they should want?

So now I color my hair and beard and all that. I make sure I know all the new buzzwords. Most importantly I go to school ALL the time!

Almost all my friends are half my age. I play all the latest PC games. I do all manner of puzzles. I have several on my smart phone. Why, because it keeps your brain in tip top condition!

Get a younger girlfriend! Works for me!

I am 54. I take a morning walk of 5km regularly. I totally agree with Chip about the advantages. When we solve a problem It really adds to our confidence.

being well spoken. Technically brilliant? Yes. Well spoken? His frequent use of "like" and "you know" indicate otherwise.

Much, much younger looking - and much more handsome!

Chip, you looked a lot more distinguished with the beard. Now you look like you are over the hill trying to impress some corporate boss somewhere. Haven't you ever heard of 'Just for Men'? I also thought that it was against the law to discriminate against older people. How can an older person know less than when they started? Heart doctors say that the human heart, if treated right, should be healthy until the late 70's, so you are saying that halfway through your healthy life a person is no longer considered able to perform the work. Maybe you mean that they are too smart and have lived long enough to not accept the BS that these companies are foisting on their employees. Why doesn't the government enforce the laws in this domain? They claim that this is a nation of laws, but they don't even protect the people that live here correctly. Thanks for standing up for the American worker!