Posts Tagged ‘employment’

Don’t Underestimate the Value of Older Software Developers

There is a fair amount of age discrimination in the software development industry. It is a common train of thought in the software industry that younger means better when it comes to hiring. When it comes to software developers however, younger does not necessarily mean better. The following are a few reasons why it can pay to have more experienced developers in your team:

While it is true that younger software developers are cheaper than older ones, the same is also true in any industry. As with most things in life, when hiring you do tend to get what you pay for. If all you have in your development team are young developers this will almost certainly cost you in the long run.

The experience older developers will have is something younger developers will have to build up on over time. Though younger developers are often cheaper, they can be more prone to making mistakes that can lead to projects not finishing on time or not being complete. This is why it is worth considering the long term costs of employing younger developers. As a result, many organisations choose to employ a mix of older more experienced developers with younger developers to work along side them.

Those who beleive that older developers will be unable to work with and adapt to newer methods and technology are often proved wrong. It is unusual to find an experienced developer who hasn’t moved between technologies before or migrated to a different framework so often they are the one’s who apdapt the best. As a result of this could be argued that older developers are in fact better equipped to deal with new technologies more quickly and in greater depth.

Those who are older and more experienced are less willing as opposed to being seen as not able to work longer shifts. Experience is a good quality to have when it comes to managing time and avoiding high stress levels as well as the dreadded burnout. Younger developers often have much less reponsibility so older developers will often work smarter to ensure work is comlpeted in the time available.

The hours worked may be less, but older workers will tend to be more productive and focused in the workplace and not as easily distracted. Software developers with family commitments they simply have to be time management experts.

It is often argued that making the right judgement call at the right time is much more beneficial than just doing everything as quickly as possible. Decisions that aren’t thought out properly usually turn out to be expensive. Having a mixture of older and younger developers can be successful as the enthusiastic young developers can learn from and be reined in by the older, more experienced team members.

The argument is not that young is necessarily bad, or that old is necessarily good, the argument is that if you are looking to hire for your software development company that it is important not to discriminate on the basis of age. A good blend of youth and experience is the key to a successful development team, so it is important for IT recruiters to bear this in mind if they do not want to miss out on top quality staff due to misconceptions about older software developers.