WaPo article about craziness in Silicon Valley
grand marshal polycounter
Guys, is this true? Is it like that at any games companies you know about?
It all sounds like a cover to hire cheaper workers to me. Because the whole idea that only young people come up with new, innovative ideas sounds like total nonsense. I doubt there is any evidence to confirm either way, but most younger generation people I know got one thing on mind: fit in.
Being innovative is a matter of personality. Nothing to do with age, but perhaps has a lot to do with experience. Lot of times, age and experience kind of go hand in hand.
Seems to be a cycle that occurs in many aspects of life. Somebody smart/brave builds something worthwhile, then the parasites come in, take over, and drive the thing into ground for short-term, selfish gain.
Replies
I don't fear for my job or anything but I don't have a lot of people to look at for inspiration in terms of what to do next.
What happens to old game devs? The only ones I know have executive in their job title..
"...penile enhancement and Botox injections."
Had to stop reading, when I got to that bit. What an utter bunch of pillocks...ffs, little wonder why the world's going down the shitter when you've got that kind of moronic mentality permeating the IT/Tech industry of all places...let alone it would seem adhered too, as well.
Like financially lucrative in the short term, usually for the sake of appearances.
But there's so much surplus and the job is pretty well straightforward so they just rinse and repeat. So you won't lose your job but their logic is that you'll only get this much, and if you want more you leave.
Not an easy thing to do when you have family, mortgages to pay and kids to feed.
And this gets worse when there is little to no competition in the local market. Toronto is a good example of this.
Personally I think its horrible, but hardly anyone is willing to speak up, let alone people that actually work there. One way to hear them out is glassdoor though.
I get that this is a game site. Game art is essential in all sorts of fields. This kind of lunacy will always be present but there really are loads of areas where you can apply your knowledge and where it will be appreciated. So, get your head out of your backside and look around. You old fugger
If they have gotten that far in their career and their skill set still consists only of being young, impressionable, unquestioning and cheap, then they probably failed to grow a valuable skillet by the time those wore out?
I don't know, I'm not really in that Silicon Valley scene and I would avoid it at all costs. It seems like getting mixed up in an organization that is openly ageist is not a good long term career path? /shrug If you do, you should definitely have an exit strategy. If you don't work toward that exit goal, it is a really tough position to be in, being senior without the skill set to back it up but, that is the reward for apathy and complacency?
Unfortunately I think a lot of those workers where hired under an extreme shortage of qualified candidates so in some cases the bar was pretty low. Now training and candidates have caught up and what we have now are better qualified candidates who happen to be younger.
To some degree there needs to be an ability to cull the herd. They need to prune dead branches that aren't being productive or in some cases counter productive. Untangling that mess from age, race and religion can be difficult but an employer needs to be clear about their goals and an employees progress so no one is surprised. When either gets lazy, things get cloudy.
A company that invests in younger, inexperienced workers takes a gamble that they'll grow into positions. Some people do grow and fulfill the role just fine. But there are those that stall out or become complacent and they need to be let go so the company can reinvest.
Personally I think a company has a duty to its employees to poke and prod sluggish individuals along the path that they need if they aren't moving that way on their own. They need to be clear about the expectations so no one is surprised when they part ways. It also gives the employee a chance to either align their personal goals with the employer or find another path.
It's some tricky shit and Silicon Valley is certainly a weird little microcosm unto itself so I wouldn't project that onto every employer across the globe. Be careful who you interview with, ask questions.