“Young People Are Just Smarter.”

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Hey there!

Yeah. I know, right? Mark Zuckerberg actually said that, back in 2007.

He was responding to a question about how as tech workers age, they are systematically squeezed out of the opportunity stream at their companies, and how tech is perceived as a young person’s game.

I’ve got a couple of suggestions on how to show people like Mark that they can go pound salt with their ageist attitudes.


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Hope this helps!

David

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hey there, it’s David H Lawrence the 17th, and I’m getting ready to head out to Denver to attend a
sort of a reunions
Of people that I’ve been associated with for a couple of decades now in a mastermind group for internet marketers some of
the biggest names in the business are part of this were part of this private group.
And I’m really excited about it because they’re people that I’ve known since long before the internet was a thing. We’ve
kind of grown up through the whole process and and what I noticed.
Was that when we get into that room?
We are all going to be much higher in an average age than most.
Tech
You know meetups or conferences.
You know, I go to Tech conferences and you know, most of the people that are there are well below my age.
And the title of this video is young people are just smarter and do you know?
You you got to understand that. It’s the incredible arrogance of Youth that caused Mark Zuckerberg. Say that because
Young people may or may not be just smarter.
You know, they’re a smart young people. They’re smart old people.
And you know, there are companies that are systematically moving older workers and by older. I don’t mean like 70 80 90. I
mean like late 30s early 40s.
I don’t know what to do with them, you know because they’ve got we’ve been encouraging young people to take stem classes
and become coders and if you don’t know what stem is it science technology.
Engineering in mathematics
And we are encouraging women to do it and and minorities and other people at risk and you know, that’s causing a huge
supply to be available of people that are you know in their twenties. So the teens really 30
And so because we’re being effective in that.
People that have been working and companies for a long time. I mean, we’re good three for five decades into the internet
Revolution depends on how you look at it.
And you know companies are sitting are going well. What are we going to do with these old people?
And again by old I mean like late 30s and above.
So if you find yourself in that situation, it’s not just in the world of technology. It’s everywhere.
The idea that younger workers are somehow more hip.
more smart
They certainly in the world of technology and other places are not cheaper.
Necessarily, right? You know, sometimes you want to replace workers that have accumulated a long history of
Increasing their salaries and moving up in the in the hierarchy of bigger paying jobs.
With people that are younger and Cost You Less as a company, sometimes that happens. It’s called ageism by the way.
And I think I have a solution for all of this. First of all for you as an older worker. If you are an older worker and in
general for companies that find themselves gone. Well, I mean, what do we do here?
You know, we’ve got people that are accumulating new skills that older workers don’t necessarily have their skilled in
other programming languages that have been around for a long time or you know coding skill sets that are more 80s 90s
2000s then 2019.
Well retraining is part of your responsibility training in general ongoing training is part of the responsibility of a
company to their workers.
So they’re stamped their team.
but for you as an older worker, I have a bit of advice in terms of
Not allowing the Zuckerberg of the world the uninformed.
Zuckerberg of the world. Let’s hope he’s
You know saw the light in the last.
You know.
Decade or so.
but for those people
Here’s how to tell them to go pound salt number one.
investigate
Alternative tracks within the company, you know, you don’t have to become a manager if you want to keep doing what you’re
doing on the line because it makes you happy.
Figure out how you can talk to your company about this rather than just let them operate in a vacuum.
And you know that goes for acting it goes for Allied field crewing things like that.
Something really makes you happy. It shouldn’t matter how old you are. And you know, I’m one of these people that
I feel as a shining example of this. I didn’t start on camera acting until I was in my late forties and I didn’t get my
first Network role until I was 50.
and so this is definitely a second act in life for me and
You don’t look at the base of actors in the world. Most of them are under the age of 35, you know.
One of the ongoing bugaboos that I hear people say is there are no rules for people over the age of 40. Now that’s false
on its face, you know, there are more rolls for people who are younger and in most cases and that has to do with how
writers write things and what people want to see what’s popular what works what network people want to do this, but you
shouldn’t hold yourself back because there’s some fries out there that you’re afraid of being true.
And that is the older people haven’t got any opportunities or don’t have as many opportunities.
First of all Explorer all the opportunities other than what you’re exactly doing right now.
within your organization
but more importantly
Tell them to go f off by.
being an entrepreneur
Put your entrepreneur hat on.
Create your own startup on the side while you’re still working at the job that you’re working at and that you love working
at.
do what they do or do something that can do what they do do what you
Feel is the most satisfying it brings you the most Joy.
Create something of your own.
that way
You don’t have to go to them and ask for permission to can I get some more? Can I get some more money a little bit more
dollars per hour or a little bit more per year.
Can I do this with the with the the product can I do this with the service?
you know write your own stuff produce your own stuff create your own stuff put that entrepreneur had on and take advantage
of something that younger people absolutely without a doubt do not have
And that is accumulated life experience.
and the wisdom
of being an older human being
You can take advantage of those things. They’re inside you and you can create what you want now for some people
entrepreneurship.
They’re not interested. I don’t I don’t want I want to go to a gas going to sit. I want to know I’ve got a job. I want to
know that I can put money in a 401k or whatever.
That’s it.
Look for us is performers and for people that watch these videos.
I feel like there is an internal Burning Flame that you can turn the knob up on and really take advantage of
And not be limited.
Buy someone’s biases by someone’s over policies by the sheer environment of the way things are built in the company that
you work for.
Make your own rules.
Do it on the side don’t don’t drop everything and hope that you’re going to make a success of what you create.
But consider that a clear option doing your own stuff creating your own content.
you know, I do an entire class on that interview to go vote curriculum and
It for a long time was the way that people would get into the Union that create their own web series and some of those web
series went on to be more than just a way to get into the Union. They became something right and we all of the
opportunities.
In the world of performance that are now available to you that weren’t available to you when you were younger.
Think about how that works. Think about how that works. Make it a car make it.
At least a consideration.
an option
And don’t let the Zuckerberg have the world get away with their ages two attitudes advocate.
for a fight against all isms sexism ageism racism
Don’t be afraid to do that. We’re in a time when people are very sensitive to
Those things are now is a great time to bring that sort of thing up if you see it happening.
Tell me what you think about this, you know, are you young and you look at old people as fogies that don’t get it.
are you old and you look at young people is annoying buzzers that you know think they know everything and they don’t think
they are, you know, invincible and impenetrable and they’re not
How do you bridge that? What do you do to bridge where you are in life?
With the reality of the work place. I’d love to know in the comments below if you’re watching this video anywhere, but
it’d be able to go go.com go over to the numeral to go. Go.com. Watch the video. Leave me a comment see what other people
are saying.
By the way, while you’re answering comments were almost at the point now. This is a episode 94.
Almost the point. We’re going to do our hundredth episode and in that hundred episode. It’s going to be an AMA young
people know what that means. It’s an ask me anything episode. So I’m going to go back and look through all the comments
that people have left and
If you ever ask questions using if you have a question.
That you haven’t left us a comment. You just like to ask me about anything.
That’s why it’s called ask me anything about me about.
What I’ve been talkin about the various topics how I do this.
You know what? My attitude is about things whatever you want to ask me.
It’s an ask me anything. Send me an email to David Lawrence at gmail.com.
And I put in the subject line am a question.
And we’ll gather all that stuff together and then certainly beginning with episode 100 will mow through a bunch of those
and see if we can’t answer some of your questions.
If you’d like to subscribe to my YouTube channel and be notified when these videos come out go ahead and click on my head
there. If there’s no head look for a subscribe button somewhere below this video if you want to see the latest episode
I’ve done
Click on that frame there and YouTube will play it for you.
underage Lawrence xvii
I’m 61 almost.
I love that you watch these videos and I’ll talk to you tomorrow..

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Responses

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  1. I always say “It’s not the gray hair. It’s the gray matter that matters.” Of, course, you have to have hair, David 🙂 Seriously, excellent points about ageism.

  2. Hey David, I really enjoyed this one, and it speaks to me in so many ways.

    My husband, an aerospace engineer, was “encouraged” to retire at age 62, not because he was not up-to-date on his technology, but because he was at the top of his salary grade and they wanted to hire three recent college grads for what they were paying him. Ageist, but they did it anyway. And they got what they deserved, no depth of experience and employees who refuse to work overtime or weekends no matter deadlines. Welcome to Zuckerberg’s world. If only these young people were nearly as smart as they think they are.

    I will say, I’m still the tech guru in my family. My kids (20s) still call me with their computer problems, though they are usually met with me reciting Rule #1 of technology–if it’s being wonky, reboot.

    Staying fresh, staying updated, and looking for new directions is what led me to audio books. It was a perfect extension of my 37 years of theatre experience.

  3. Mark Harmon is considered to be one of the sexiest men on television (if not the sexiest man on TV.) If I’m not mistaken he is over 35.

  4. My husband and I have been fortunate enough to be able to retire in the last year. I’m 60, he is 62. I have been the primary kid raiser and home manager, substitute teacher, youth volunteer/leadership development specialist, and health insurance agent, while he worked in the pharma industry. In his last layoff, getting a new job was going to be difficult specifically because of age and his income bracket. But, with his wealth of knowledge and experience, he was also treated with a certain… disrespect is too strong, but dis-value (is that a word?) because what he learned about pharma manufacturing and the software changes was 35 year old information. Nevermind that he had been helping develop some of that software and had kept up on the coursework and upgrades. He also knew the history of the processes and the regulations of FDA. When he would be the adult in the room (30 years ago he was the oldest person in the room) who would say you can’t do that because of compliance issues, he would get pushback, which on more than one occasion was enforced by a surprise FDA inspection. Company got dinged.

    I’m thoroughly enjoying what I’m doing because, among many other things, I can do this until I can’t any more. It will help keep my gray matter from going the way of many things in later years. He works in the garden and we can travel. (Last fall we had an epiphany. Vacationing after Labor Day, all the the tourists have gray hair. Just sayin’.) And since I can still ride my horses, which I won’t be able to do forever, this is what my retirement looks like. As long as I have my voice, no one can tell me I’m too old.

    And the young people in my life, including my 30+ year old children, are JEALOUS!! 🙂

  5. My employer of 20 years (a large tech consulting firm) showed me the door on my 20th anniversary–no severance, no thank you very much, just–go.

    I now work for a small consulting firm where I am one of the oldest (except for the senior partner and one of his friends). Just yesterday, I helped one of them diagnose a thorny problem that required understanding the guts of a specific binary file format. When we finished, her comment was, “OMG, you’re a frickin’ GENIUS!”

    There is a certain value in experience…

  6. Wow, David — they are soooooo wrong. I had almost 5 years of college, but life got in the way of my getting that sheepskin. What did I do next I, grabbed any text book I could — read them — became self-taught at anything I chose to work at. I’ve started up many companies (i.e. real estate, project services (litigation and engineering support) and have just retired at 79 years old from my day job with a Government contractor. What now, you ask? I’ve been a full time VO actor since retirement. Right now audiobooks is my thing — but I’m game for commercial or other areas of narration et al.

    By the way, I am in my 80th year (thank God I still look fifty something), but I ask you, where else in the world can an 80 or 90 years dame, sit on her behind and gab to herself all day and rake in the bucks doing it? I’m just sayin’.

  7. Oh, forgot to mention — I’m a computer nerd and have been since 1979 and having a reasonable knowledge of basic language etc.