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Letters in response to a recent column by Editor-in-Chief, Bob Evans: "Is There An Age Conspiracy?"
For a follow-up column see "Age Discrimination: Are Oldies Still Goodies?"

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I just read your editorial "Is There An Age Conspiracy?" (March 22, 1999) I doubt there is a conspiracy--that requires people to discuss and agree on a course of action. There may, however, be age discrimination, resulting from wage discrimination.

For instance, the company I used to work for recently outsourced part of its IT staff. (Other parts had been contracted over the last few years and were included in the new contract. No full-time positions were lost in those changes.) Of the eight employees whose jobs were eliminated, five were over 40, including three over 50 (myself included). All five had at least 15 years with the company.

It certainly appears cost was an issue--after all, a short-term 30-year-old is in many ways cheaper than a long-term 50-year-old (salary and benefits). The jobs eliminated were not "in scope" of the contract, so it was not simply a matter of moving the jobs to the contractor. As it happened, we were all offered jobs with the new contractor (except one who chose to retire), so none of us had to test the job market.

Leonard M. Herring
IBM Global Services
Spring House, Pa.

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Based on my experience, there most certainly is age discrimination in the IT field. I was a 46-year-old systems auditor who had moved from systems analysis to systems audit in 1984--and then my defense contractor employer decided it could not afford a systems auditor. In my job search, I encountered numerous hiring managers who were much younger than I. After a few interviews I became proficient at reading body language, and could tell early on that they had already decided. I must admit the creativity shown in creating legal ways to say "you're too old for us" was amazing.

I briefly dealt with two offices (in different cities) of a nationwide recruiting outfit, which insisted that I personally appear in their offices for face-to-face meetings before they would refer my resume to their clients. I complied, and the meeting wasnęt even long enough to have a cup of coffee; it was obvious that the sole purpose was to see how much gray hair I had and to pass that on to the clients. And they did just that, for there were no responses. These were not technical interviews, but mere formalities to keep them barely legal.

James R. Shannahan,
CCP, CQA, CISA
Senior EDP Auditor
Milwaukee

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I don't have any experience with hiring employees over 40, but I would like to pass this along:

I was watching some nationally syndicated news program (I don't remember which one), which aired a story claiming that workers reach peak efficiency at age 42. The next sentence was that companies are (therefore) hiring younger, more efficient workers.

The problem (which I thought was obvious) is that if workers are at their peak efficiency at 42, then younger workers would have to be less efficient. But it seems the perception is stronger than the fact. We as a culture believe you can't be smart unless you're young.

Timothy Rogers
Manager of IS
Lewis Harrison Design
Fountain Valley, Calif.

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There is clearly some truth to idea that IT workers over 40 are less sought after than those younger. Some of this is outright discrimination, but most of it relates to the real nature of all IT jobs that are open. I believe they fall into two main categories:

1) Those jobs that require the ability to hit the ground running with the latest technologies. Employers are willing to pay top dollar, but those with years of experience in older technologies clearly do not fit this need. As a 28-year-old consultant, I find myself struggling to keep up, despite years of experience in Visual Basic, SQL Server, Sybase, and some Web development.

2) Those jobs in which employers are not as concerned with cutting-edge technology, and are willing to have people learn on the job. Many employers would be happy to have older workers for these jobs, but they do not want to pay the kind of money required by someone with 15 to 20 years in the workforce. If they are willing to spend that kind of money, they are looking for someone they don't have to train.

Edward Parrot
IT Consultant
Computer Staffing Associates
Farmington, Conn.

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