Will being 40+ count against me ?

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

HI all,
I have just been accepted on to the MCSA course with the NITLC but there is only one thing holding me back now, at present I have never worked in the IT industry but I am at the level where I can take a PC apart and put it back and recognise all the parts so I am not a complete beginer.
I am reasonably confident with a lot of hard work and dedication I should be able to manage the course but the thing that is holding me back from signing up is I'll be 43 by the time I would have completed the course with no previous IT experience(Although NITLC say the course is structured to give you work experience) I can't help being worried that my age may go against me the course adviser told me not to worry but he is bound to say that.
I just wanted to canvass opinion on this excellent site before I part with what is a hell of a lot of money to me and will be one of the biggest decisions I have made.
I just get the feeling IT companies might prefer the younger generation to the slightly older ones like me.
I am I being too paranoid ? or have I nothing to worried about.
Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks a Million to all who answer.

 

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

Hi Richard,

As I'm sure you're already aware, it is illegal to discriminate on the grounds of age. So it never happens - YEAH, RIGHT

I would say (at mid-30s) that it's all about how you present yourself initially.

1.) Can you do the job ?

2.) Are you a "people" person ?

3.) Do you act like your 40+, or do you just act like you've always done ?


To give a recent example of 3.) above, I was recently asked (out of the blue) by one of the 21 year old hotshots I work with "Gav - what age are you ?"

Before telling him, I asked why ?

"No reason - just that I had NO idea what age you were"


Boy, did I feel good after that

So as long as you believe in yourself, you'll get the job you worked for.

Hope that helps.

 

Richardod

Many employers will value a more mature employee in any role as you are more likely to stay in that position or within the company. There is a huge problem in IT that younger employees get a position in IT and then use it as a stepping stone to another job and or stay till they have got training and enough experience to move on.

I think it probably depends on the organisation that you are looking to be employed by and the average age of the staff that they currently have. However, this being said, if this is what you want to do then do it - potential employers will see your enthusiasm and should be able to see that they can benefit from your experience in other areas also.

Good luck with everything!

 

Thanks a lot you have just made feel a whole lot better.

 

heh for me its the other way round
i have people betting on how old I am and they all hit over the mark, most are suprised to find out im usually the youngest in the company (well was until they hired a 19 year old lol)

 

I'll be 50 in July and I'm working. Ok, so I'm not working full-time, but I've got a number of part-time gigs I'm stringing together. Long story short, you're employable as long as you're adaptable and knowledgable.

Funny story. I had written a number of pieces for Course Technology (www.course.com) and my product manager likes my work. For some reason, he got around to asking me how old I am. I told him and he said by my writing, he envisioned a much younger person (probably early 30s). His experience is that older authors tend to be more boring in text. He bent over backwards after that trying to explain that he wasn't out to offend me or put middle-aged people down. Actually, I was flattered, but there is a perception of older people in tech that we need to deal with...especially those of us still new to the field.

Motto: "Never give up; never surrender!"

 

True, but I find it works in most real life situations, too.