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This is interesting to me because I am well into my fifties. Maybe I'm an exception but I'm as good with the technology we use as most of the younger employees that I work with. I do happen to be a degreed engineer with an MBA so I've always been a technical thinker.
I started my career using the first version of lotus on a 5 1/4" floppy and have progressed with each upgrade in personal computing and software for the past 30 plus years. This past year I purchased a gaming model laptop so in the evening I can relax playing Skyrim, Bioshock or just plain solitare if I feel like it. I'm moving to a wireless server system for my home music although I am also looking into another turntable and tube amplification because none of the modern technology yet developed for music can truly replicate audiophile analog music reproduction quality. Having thousands of songs available on your phone is convenient but not a better listening experience. I will use the most modern technology for convenience around the house but when I want to sit and just enjoy quality music for a time it is the old school technology in this case that wins.
Technology changes rapidly and it's really about what you keep current with, not your age. If you stop learning because you choose not to or your job doesn't require it, then you fall behind. I'm someone who has had a lot of roles in my career. I've worked in technical individual contributor jobs as well as senior general management roles. I enjoy technology but as someone said, it's about what it does for me, beyond that I don't care about it. I do pay attention to technology trends so that I can anticipate their impact on things that I might want to invest in.
I happen to work in the manufacturing world. I spend most of my time teaching younger employees how to solve problems and improve the performance of our operation. My years of experience combined with the fact that I'm naturally a self-motivated learner has allowed me to generally keep ahead of younger professional competition.
Some people have careers full of new experiences and continue to grow. Some people settle in and do basically the same thing for many years without significant leaning or growth. The second group can easily fall behind the first group or the newer employees with more recent education. It's not about age. It's about how you choose to use your brain.
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Well, I think there's a lot of variation. I know some people in their 70s (and older) who have really taken to computers and others who haven't.
I'm not 50 yet, but I'm only about 1.5 years off. I've recently taught myself how to do quite a few things in Linux after years of using only Windows and with no IT training or background. All of my computers are dual-boot now, and I set them up myself after watching some YouTube tutorials. I have been working online (mostly freelance) for the last few years, so I also had to learn how to use various types of programs/systems used by virtual companies.
Maybe your coworker learns better when he has good notes and a step-by-step demonstration to go by. I do much better with notes I can refer to until I memorize a process; this was the case in my 20s as well as now.
" I'm moving to a wireless server system for my home music although I am also looking into another turntable and tube amplification because none of the modern technology yet developed for music can truly replicate audiophile analog music reproduction quality."
One thing I have but didn't exactly catch on is HD radio. FM sounds a better (especially on classical). AM sounds much better but there is not much. There are substations that offer more content although I must admit that everything these days streams online. There was some nice live content but now it's mostly sports not that it is bad because it does certainly sound better.
I think the other issue not so much mp3's but with hdtv the sound didn't improve at all. Don't get me wrong it looks great but in terms of audio I think it sounds 100% the same.
The joy of stereotypes. I've been hearing about how the younger generation knows "all about computers" and how I'll be out of a job soon since I turned 30.
In the last year I've designed and built a high availability VM cluster, set up secure email systems, hardened multiple servers, designed, installed and configured intrusion detection systems, written several network security apps, performed multiple network security risk assessments, obtained my CISSP certification, bought a new car and replaced my smart phone. I'm 52 btw.
People just have to retire at 55, as in some other countries, free workplaces for younger ones, and enjoy ther lives. By 65, it's not much left to enjoy.
At my almost 50, I find my iphone an extremely boring thing, I use some features like camera, internet, gps (however I prefer driving by map because it lets my brain function, b/c I dislike being commanded by some soulless and brainless thing, and b/c I watched my daughter relying on GPS and ending up in a dead-end dirty road), notes, reminders, alarms, and calculator. When I have to learn a new soft, I'm pretty much as sharp as usual, if I'm interested (when the light is good, otherwise my eyes fail me). Just recently took a web-design class with Dreamweaver and could do this if needed.
And since your age bashing, I find a lot of younger workers spend too much time on personal calls or texting, not all, but many don't have the best work ethic. Most older workers view work as work, not spending time checking texts and FB..
I had a much younger worker criticize me for coming to work a few minutes early every day.
And don't even get me started with all the texting that people do on the job. Or worse - texting while driving in their car. There seems to be an addiction to texting these days.
So I work with this one guy, he's in his 50s and is a smart guy. He comes from an Ivy League education, years as a CPA and was even the CFO of a publicly traded company for a little while (albeit one that went belly-up), but sometimes I feel like I'm explaining things to a child when working with him. Yesterday it took not only 20 minutes of me repeating myself,
Maybe he tunes you out because he doesn't care what you're talking about.
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Do you guys find this to be the norm in your industries?
No. I work in Silicon Valley, and most of the people running the show around here are older folks, and a lot of the work that gets done and the innovative stuff that gets created is put together by the older people. And they're also the ones with the money.
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I've worked for several different finance companies and this has been universal. Maybe that's why the vast majority of the people in positions of power are 40ish.
" I'm moving to a wireless server system for my home music although I am also looking into another turntable and tube amplification because none of the modern technology yet developed for music can truly replicate audiophile analog music reproduction quality."
One thing I have but didn't exactly catch on is HD radio. FM sounds a better (especially on classical). AM sounds much better but there is not much. There are substations that offer more content although I must admit that everything these days streams online. There was some nice live content but now it's mostly sports not that it is bad because it does certainly sound better.
I think the other issue not so much mp3's but with hdtv the sound didn't improve at all. Don't get me wrong it looks great but in terms of audio I think it sounds 100% the same.
I'm not looking to turn this into a debate on sound reproduction technology. We could probably get an unlimited number of posts on an audiogon forum around this topic. The newer lossless files fed to high end DACs are certainly producing very high quality music. As the technology advances and improves I'll be following it.
My oldest coworkers have tended to be far to one end of the scale or the other, either the most competent or among the least. Heading toward the older years myself, I think there's a tradeoff between reduced adaptability, but greater experience and wisdom. The elders who have put in the effort to accumulate great experience and amass a large store of knowledge, and who are continuing to engage and explore, are a valuable human asset that far outweighs any weaknesses in terms of being rather behind the times in some ways.
There is a mirror tradeoff with young workers as well, of course. A newcomer who is clever and hardworking can leverage their fresh outlook and adaptability to compensate and then some for lack of experience.
People always talk about new technology and the pace of technological innovation, but the fact of the matter is that computing has changed very little in 40 years. What's changed is the size and speed of storage and networking, and the availability of these to the mass population. Vocabulary changes (now we call it the "cloud" instead of the "Internet"), but the way things work on the inside has changed very little. If you can program in C (a language that was created 40 years ago), then you can program in Ruby.
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