I am the old man. I work for a smallish construction company, and the only person older than me is the owner. I’m a couple years older than the job supervisor I usually work with, and 20-25 years older than some of the ‘kids’ I work with. I tell them, not jokingly, that I carry tools older than they are.
I get treated a little differently than the young guys with the same job since I’m older than they are. It seems I don’t get as much shit work if it can be helped. I can pull my own weight though, I’m as strong or stronger than any of them except the guy who used to be a shot-putter.
I’m 54 and work in a electrical/electronics R&D lab. It’s a bit surreal, but I guess I’m the “old guy” now, and some people look up to me and think I’m some sort of guru. (I assure you I’m not.)
We work on old-school stuff, and the biggest problem is finding new people who enjoy working on analog electronics, wiring, motors, etc. In June I posted a position for a senior technician, and I am still looking. And I found out yesterday that one of the engineers who reports to me will be taking a government job, so now I have to find an EE who likes this kind of work. It’s beyond aggravating.
I am the most experienced elder in our system. I held highest medical oversight authority over 26k patients and 70 practitioners on various occasions; the rest of the time I oversaw a smaller sector but monitored the rest of it at the behest of the Medical Director (when we had one. When we didn’t, I was ‘acting director’). Even after stepping down to be ‘just’ a physician in a quiet small sector of our enterprise, recent Medical Directors (I’ve dealt with 5 of them over my career now) come to me for advice often. I generally follow the ‘rules’ but when I don’t, everyone just assumes the rules don’t apply to me. Works for me!
At my school I’m the oldest foreign teacher but also the newest so don’t get no respect. Which is good, because I don’t deserve any. I’m still learning.
The youngest teacher could be my son, if you just look at biological ages, and did say that I’m the more energetic of the teachers.
Not at all. I’m a college professor and even though I’m 60, there are at least 10 people who are older than me, in a department with 58 members. The oldest are probably in their mid 70s. The youngest, just 2 or 3 of them, are in their late 30s. I’m one of the top 5 in terms of seniority, though, since I was hired when I was 35 and got my promotions earlier than many of the people older than me.
I guess that’s a difference between teaching at a “real college” and my experience at a Technical College. There are only three of us over 60 in our department… maybe because we have to teach technology that’s always changing.
I’m so jealous of my older friend who teaches 19th century French Lit at the University … I’m constantly studying new software (and figuring out whatever Adobe changed this month), but his field CAN’T change!
I’m 60 and definitely the old man in my company of 100 people. I joined in January and it’s a startup. Most of the folks I interviewed with are in their 30s. Most engineers are in their 20s. The CEO is 40, and my boss is 45.
I think it’s pretty cool. Most people think I’m in my 40s, so that’s a good thing.
Out of 85 people I’m the third oldest at 54. I started a bit late so I’m a few years older than those I got hired with. Hopefully I’ll be retired soon.
Actually, there are ways in which teaching 19th Century Lit has changed over the past 40 years, though admittedly nowhere near as extreme as the changes you have in the technology field.
I teach courses in 19th Century British and American Lit, and there’s much more inclusion of women writers and writers of color. For example, I never heard of Frederick Douglass or Harriet Jacobs / Linda Brent in high school or college, while Mary Wollstonecraft, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Christina Rossetti were seen as very minor. Now, anyone teaching courses without mentioning them is behind the times. Literary reputations fluctuate; an anthology that I used in college dismissed Barrett Browning as “very bad”, but today she’s seen as groundbreaking in her defense of women’s rights.
There are also literary theories that weren’t around or were very new 40 years ago and which are a given today.
Using technology is another issue. I know people who retired abruptly during the pandemic because they couldn’t handle communicating with students by email, and were absolutely incapable of dealing with remote teaching and online learning platforms like Blackboard and Moodle.
When I retired, I was not only the “Old Guy” at my company, but the oldest guy working in the trade. all of the techs in my department had not been born when I started. I was on my third owner of the company and he was four years old when I started.
I’m somewhat the old guy. In my department there are two people I know who are one or two years older, but I have them beat in years of service. None of us are in exactly ‘perfect health,’ so I suspect that either we’ll all die working here or be subject to some future ‘workforce realignment initiative’ before we retire.
I saw this and knew exactly who it was. Learned about him, a little, in Personal Law in high school, and a little bit in history in junior high school.
@LH75, that would be the very nice lady in the front office of my company who started working there right out of high school when the current owners were still in short pants. She truly is the Wise Old Woman and Institutional Memory of the company.
I was the designated trainer and tutored everyone through the licensing exams. About half of the people who work in the trade cycled through my company at one time or another. A bunch of the rest used the study guide I wrote when studying for their exam.
I was the oldest when I worked at a brokerage firm in my 40s. The big enchilada was just a few years younger but didn’t look it because he was bald and always frowning. Asshole wouldn’t even respond when you said “Good morning.” So, it gave me pause when I learned of his age. No matter. I’m still a nice guy and he’s probably still an asshole.
Well, I’ve just been informed that my management-level-no-reports-subject-matter-expert role would be expanded to have a graduate trainee as a direct report. It will be a three year gig formally, although he’ll only be directly mine for six months. I got out of management back in 2016, and was thankful for it (especially as an SME), but even then, I managed career professionals. I have no idea how I’m going to approach a 23-or-so-year-old.
I’m a god with Excel, but don’t give a hoot about Instagram or followers. I’m a technology early adopter but don’t flaunt it, except when it comes to my Mach E which I brad about every chance I get, including this paragraph. I’ve heard of PewdiePie, but I think that was because of South Park, which I’ve been watching since the beginning. And I’m not even sure if PewdiePie is a thing anymore.
I’m the old man, but it doesn’t usually matter. Is this dude (he’s a dude as far as I can ascertain) even Gen Z? Is there a newer generation I’ve not heard of yet?