I’ve seen a lot of age discrimination, so some of this is funny, but then not really so funny.

Here’s something to think about. At a certain age, if you work in technology, it will not matter what you have accomplished or what current leading edge skills you have. It will become very difficult to get a job, solely because of age. It’s not clear if you can get a job at all if you’re 60 or older. Only because of age. Nothing else.

There was a major technology company that had been after me for years to interview with them. The last time they called I was in graduate school (University of Washington, Masters, 2013) and didn’t have time to interview. But this time, I figured why not?

I did a couple of phone interviews. Then I got an email that said that there was nothing, in the entire company, that would match my skills. Which is pretty weird because looking at their open jobs page, I saw lots of jobs that I was a fit for. I’ll remind you that I built nderground, among many other things.

Who knows why they blew me off. I thought that the phone interviews had gone well. I was able to provide detailed and accurate answers to all of their questions.

But one issue that you run into a lot as you get older is that managers don’t want someone reporting to them who is much older. They have images of older people that are like what is written here. Yeah, I know. It’s a joke. Humor. But the humor is based on stereotype. Try changing age to skin color or gender and see if it still sounds funny.

Here’s a few other things to think about. Given the way things currently are, you’re going to be working for a long time. Well past 40, which is considered ancient at technology companies. It’s pretty old in media companies too. Look around you tomorrow at work and ask yourself how many people you see over 40. Do you see anyone over 50?

I’ll finish this post by looking into your future. I see two paths ahead for you. The future is always uncertain, so I’m not sure which future will be yours. In one future, you die before you get old. In another future you get old.

If you’re fortunate enough follow the path where you get old, what will it feel like to be treated like a disposable person, only because of your age?