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My mom is one of those people. She's in her late 50's and works as an instructor for the YMCA. She can barely email and has to have one of the front desk girls help her log in every time she needs to get on the computer to submit her hours. I'm sure her Millenial co-workers have fantasies of drowning her in the pool...
I tried to teach my mom the basics of "using a computer" when she was that age, and I do mean The Basics. She started off by saying, "I can't learn this! I'm too old!" and throughout our lessons, she kept saying that. "I can't learn this! I'm too old!"
At this point, she can can email. She cannot operate a smartphone, regardless of OS. She can operate a dumbphone in times of emergency.
But I guess what I got out of the experience was the fact that I hope I never, ever say, "I can't learn this! I'm too old!"
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wmsn4Life
I am 46, and I can tell you that it's a little of both.
Well, you don't STOP learning, but dammit, it is hard to keep up.
Be patient, because one day YOU will be that guy.
True, and some people did just let technology pass them by rather than learn. Not all of us, however. I'm older than you and despite being a manager that really isn't required to learn them, I did some SQL scripts today, and have taught myself to use Tableau to access a relational database that I'm in charge of.
I actually started as a system administrator for users of a billing system written in Cobol, learned Focus and programmed all of the reports, then learned SAS, and some SQL back when it first came out. Sometimes it's faster to do it yourself rather than wait for IT. Our employee average age (1,900 people) is 49, and they all have had to learn Sharepoint, and use Peoplesoft Financials. My employee that's doing our design and workflows is 48, and self taught. In our IT department, though, most are under 45.
I don't see it in engineering but then again I've never met a civil engineer in his 50's or beyond that isn't already a manager or doesn't already own his own firm. I have noticed that the older guys don't know AutoCAD/Microstation or some of the hydrology modeling packages very well but as I said, they are at the point in their career where they do little to no drafting and modeling. They focus on marketing (writing proposals, bidding on projects etc..) and project management.
Technology is overrated. And I"m in the technology and business systems field.
From what I've seen, younger people value technology for technologies sake, older people tend to view it more as a tool. Young people want to know how cool it is, older want to know what it will do for them and how to make things as simple as possible.
Most of my job involves describing the role a new technology will take in improving workflow and simplifying it for end users. You need to improve your communication skills with your older colleague and focus on the workflow, not the bells and whistles.
And what is the obsession with smartphones? Owning one does not make you smart and many people just view it as a timewaster from watching their kids endlessly texting.
I don't see it in engineering but then again I've never met a civil engineer in his 50's or beyond that isn't already a manager or doesn't already own his own firm. I have noticed that the older guys don't know AutoCAD/Microstation or some of the hydrology modeling packages very well but as I said, they are at the point in their career where they do little to no drafting and modeling. They focus on marketing (writing proposals, bidding on projects etc..) and project management.
That is interesting. I think it has something to do with ones personal interests. For me at the age of 47, it took me about 2 days to transition from AutoCAD to Vectorworks, and if need be, a very short amount of time to transition from those to Solidworks or Inventor. But if I try to learn SQL or Sharepoint, I fall asleep in 30 seconds.
Just keep in mind that not everyone over 50 is that way. I am over 50 and would venture to say I can master technology, programming and financial concepts as well as anyone and better than most. But my age group didn't grow up with computers and I do see some of my peers who are an embarrassment for their lack of understanding of technology and the modern workplace.
Threads like these (or like the one where a poster was incredulous that a 40+ year old man would be an intern) offer us a sobering reminder of why anti age discrimination lawsuits are so necessary in our work force.
Granted, many companies can skirt these laws, but imagine how much worse it would be without them.
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