Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Where Do Mature IT People Go?

I mentioned to one of my girlfriends that I happen to work with a handful of attractive men now. But, they are all a good bit younger than me. If I were to judge by their swagger alone, I'd put them in the 28/29 range. Then, I took a second look around and noticed that it's not just the cute guys that are younger. The women are younger too. In fact, if I were to guess the percentage that is over 32, I'd say it's less than 20%.

Is this just a consulting phenomenon? Or is it just IT consulting? One of my other girlfriends that is a different kind of consultant, said that she never really noticed before. I reasoned that maybe it's because she's been one of the youngest.

The last time my boss was older than me was in 2003. The last time my boss was significantly older than me was in 1999. Lately they've been from 4 to 9 years younger. I don't mind taking direction from someone younger. I think what gets to me is that these people may be making more money than me. LOL (Being a 'boss' at my company doesn't necessarily mean you are earning more.)

Where are all the over 35 IT people working? Is it just that consulting is a 'young' man's game? Am I just going to fall off the face of the earth one day and end up in some kind of other world break room, sipping red bull with a bunch of IT pro's that graduated from college (not high school or middle school) in the early 90s? In our building, we have an elevator that gets stuck. The next time I'm on there when the doors don't fully close and I can catch a glimpse between floors, I'm going to look carefully. Maybe that's where my peers are.

I'm not even sure why this matters to me. Is this just my job clock ticking?

Holla

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