During my time in Sydney, I met a lot new people – mostly my colleagues there. Some of them look pretty young while some look to be quite senior. And yet some of them actually have the same job roles. That is the thing which surprised me the most (and also something which I respect a lot). There seems to be no age barrier or limitation. Back in Malaysia (or any Asian country), you don’t normally see a 25-year-old “kid” having the same job position as a 50-year-old veteran. We have the strange concept where older people MUST move up the corporate ladder unless they are not capable to do so. There is no such thing as a single job role for everyone.
For example, if you are a fresh graduate in IT, you should be a programmer.
If you have 5 years experience, you should be a senior programmer.
If 10 years, then a technical architect or a project manager. You CAN remain as a senior programmer, but your salary will not go up since it belongs to the lower group in the corporate food chain.
Do you think this is a good practice? For me, I don’t. I don’t see why someone who loves to do programming should not be rewarded properly and must be forced to move to the management level in order to get proper remuneration. Why force someone to do something he does not like? And most importantly, why decide for people what they should be working as based on how old they are?
Perhaps this is one of the reasons why I’ve met more passionate people in western countries than I’ve ever met in any Asian country. What do you think? Should something be changed or you think it is fine the way it is now?
p/s…. i understand that in certain companies where a manager is regarded to be more important than a programmer, it is only natural to pay the manager more. If that’s the case, then let us try to put it in a different context. Let’s say you are hiring a programmer, and a 50-year-old guy with the proper experience and knowledge apply for the job. Will you consider him or will you think he is actually too old for the job even though he is really passionate about it?
Tagged: age, Business, Career, discriminate, job, Life, management, Office Life
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10 Comments
“Does age define what kind of job you can apply to?”
Yes. You can’t apply to be an advert model for baby products if you are older than a baby.
“a 50-year-old guy with the proper experience and knowledge apply for the job. Will you consider him or will you think he is actually too old for the job even though he is really passionate about it?”
Yes I would but I know that in Asia, most won’t.
I think its a culture thing. Most Asians are raised to look up to older people for their wisdom and experience. Its great for social settings, tricky for corporate settings. Deep down, I think most employers don’t want to subject elder people to the kind of bullying they dish out to the youngsters and they’d rather avoid it if they can. Unfortunately, it also means closing the door to some potential good talent.
@ Damien
er…if u put it in that way, maybe u r right. =_=
Perhaps its a cultural thing, perhaps it’s because of our education? Even if the bosses allow such practice, i doubt the employees can. A 24-year-old will find it hard to communicate with a 50-year-old peer.
well , if i am 50 and i am working under a 30 year old manager ..that feeling will be shitty
gapnap´s last blog ..A little Genting Gig
@ gapnap
u will find another job right? and u will find a job which does not have a young supervisor.
but …hmm…what if nobody will know how old someone is besides the HR? what if asking someone’s age is very very sensitive?
the face’s wrinkle and white hair on your head will show ur age. lol~
I like the idea whereby a person is not judged by their age or gender. but instead by their knowledge and skill. i will even called a teenager as sifu/guru if he has better skill than me!
so what if the programmer is 50 years old and the project manager is 30 years old? what matters is that they are able to perform the job well.
if u switch them around, that 30 years old dude might not be able to do programming job well, and that 50 years man might not perform better management. in the end, it’s the company losses for following the social norm, instead of striving for equilibrium.
willchua´s last blog ..KL PC Fair 2009: Babe 10/10
@ willchua
i too like this kind of idea but well…we are the minority. asian culture will never accept such idea.
I think it is a matter of fact whether the manager can manage that guy or not regardless of the age. I think majority of the Asia’s Manager is lacking of the skills to manage some one older than them. This is something that we want to be improved. Great post!
@ ChampDog
I think it’s more about the mentality than the skill. If a manager can overcomes the biggest obstacle which is his own mindset, then I don’t see a problem.
what about if you hold an engineering certificate but you were never given the chance to practice what you have studied?and when u go for the interview,the comment that you will have is ‘YOU DONT HAVE THE EXPERIENCE’.come on the employers are playing safe?why should everything must be based on CGPA?so do u people up there think that those who get less than 3.00 pointer is less clever than those who gained 3.00 pointer and above?in the end i support the idea from Mr Alvin Tan—>the mindset and the culture of Asian people which seem to be restricted and suppress freedom for one to grow.it is really bad!
@jaden:
CGPA is there for a reason. Let’s say you are the interviewer and you have 50 fresh graduates that applied for 1 job. who will you select? when the competition is so strong, you will select the best of the best and that means CGPA because that’s the only way people can measure esp when you have no working experience. So normally companies would select few people with better CGPA, and give them a test (IQ, EQ, etc) and see who is the best among them.