interviews

I don't understand why any employer would discriminate against a candidate just because of advancing age. IME young people/younger people know jack about anything so what's the point of hiring them? Especially in a job like EE design, the competence of older applicants is hard to ignore.

I have lots of respect for bus drivers and stone cutters, but I can see how they might not want to do that until they're 85. Designing electronics, in the right circumstances, has enough challenge and variety to keep one amused for a long time. Golf and gardening don't appeal to me.

"I'm saving the government money by killing off retirees."

which argument was actually made by the cigarette companies, before they appreciated that it wasn't a popular concept.

Because the have longer life expectancies. And they're cheaper.

In my case, I want another generation of managers and engineers to keep the company going for another 50 years. Somebody my age is going to quit about when I would, if not sooner. I can do all the analog design until then.

Besides, teaching is a fundamental human impulse. Somebody as experienced as I am will *not* want to do things my way.

Experience costs more.

More expensive insurance is one (albeit silly) reason.

Perhaps they're afraid of hiring people who need the employer less than they need the employee. "Yes men" always make for simpler employment. Those who have made the mistakes are less willing to blindly follow them down that path again.

Outright bigotry.

All sorts of "good" reasons.

Well, if somebody is going to need a year or two to get really up to speed, it would be fairly dumb to hire some guy in his 60s.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

An older, really good engineer, is likely to have a secure job, or be out as a consultant. I'm happy to hire consultants of any age.

That's the other side. This is particularly true if said 60s is used to twice the salary the job would pay the graduate. OTOH, some jobs require more immediate experience than others. I don't think many are willing to spend a year or two training anyone, these days. They can hire whatever level of experience they need but the entry level isn't zero.

I've been going to a slaughterhouse recently to get blood - working in there is one job I'd prefer to avoid. Human consciousness can triumph over circumstance, but the mind is not the only type of awareness. ...

Changing subject - John's search for engineers - Yes, it's difficult - what about that website where developers bid on jobs? Are they any good? Curious.

See, that is why we like our NHS over here...

That's probably what they're using on you.

"I'm saving the government money by killing off retirees."

It is to me :-)

Kevin Aylward B.Sc.

It never takes 2 years to get up to speed on some nominal gaps in ones knowledge, if someone is really competent.

If someone actually and truly understands electronics, they will be able to design anything, right first time, by about 1 hour of study to fill in some particular technical gap.

However, I do recognise that the average Analog "designer" will take at least 5 years from graduating before he can tie his boot laces.

Kevin Aylward B.Sc.

No it doesn't.

Kevin Aylward B.Sc.

Den mandag den 14. april 2014 19.57.33 UTC+2 skrev Kevin Aylward:

The salary is probably higher and for many bean counters that is the same as cost more

-Lasse

Allow me to ask a question apparently unrelated: I assume you are looking for an engineer to do ASIC design? Whatever it is exactly, here is the question: "If you had a motivated, intelligent stranger with a bent for DIY, how quickly could you train him/her in the basics so as to be self-teaching and functional?"

Note: You aid, "If they can say the basics about an op-amp," but that may have been frustration. My question is whether you could put your work in a "maker" format. (I I feel a bit silly asking this, but there it is.)

Don't be ridiculous.

A few decades ago, a graduate engineer commanded a modest salary in keeping with other able graduates.

As time has gone by with more and more manufacturing moving to the Far East, engineers in the US and UK have been displaced with design effort in the Far East, with a consequence of falling relative wages through oversupply of graduate engineers.

These days the smart population wouldn't touch engineering with a barge-pole leaving those who are less bright to do it instead. They'd sooner become accountants, doctors or lawyers or indeed anything else that commands respect. Also there are closed shops in working with gas and electricity such those who want a hands on career can be better paid in these fields.

Recently we had Richard Dyson, himself an engineer and inventor,

attitude says it all and is not uncommon amongst the population.

Perhaps you should open a design house in China?

Amazingly, I suppose, we're doing just the opposite. We're doing more and more of the design work every year and less is being done in the East. Manufacturing isn't done here anymore, though. What was the production line has all been converted to engineering (some project management) since '08.

There isn't much of a mystery there, since it's half the going rate.

Clueless.