2020/04/13 by Sebastian Baltes, George Park, Baltes, Sebastian +3 · 1 voice · 2 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Social Sciences · #Human Resource and Talent Management #Retirement, Disability, and Employment #Technology Use by Older Adults #cs.CY #cs.SE
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2004.05847
openalex publication_date 2020/04/13 · openalex created_date 2022/07/26 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Alerted by our previous research as well as media reports and discussions in\nonline forums about ageism in the software industry, we set out to study the\npublic discourse around age and software development. With a focus on the USA,\nwe analyzed popular online articles and related discussions on Hacker News\nthrough the lens of (perceived) employability issues and potential mitigation\nstrategies. Besides rather controversial strategies such as disguising\nage-related aspects in r 'esum 'es or undergoing plastic surgeries to appear\nyoung, we highlight the importance of keeping up-to-date, specializing in\ncertain tasks or technologies, and present role transitions as a way forward\nfor veteran developers. With this article, we want to build awareness among\ndecision makers in software projects to help them anticipate and mitigate\nchallenges that their older employees may face.\n