Senior Fullstack Product Engineer Denis Klymenko noticed that the average age in the field is now almost 40. He believes that IT is aging, and here’s why.
Senior Fullstack Product Engineer Denis Klymenko noticed that the average age in the field is now almost 40. He believes that IT is aging, and here’s why.
«In two and a half years, the share of specialists aged 21–25 has halved. The average age in the field is now almost 40. It’s ironic, when you think about how many people are now writing about ageism. And here I sit, thinking: we’re all used to IT being about youth, drive, startups, founders in hoodies. And now it turns out that the industry is aging faster,» he wrote .
However, Klymenko believes that the problem is not age. «The problem is that the door is closing for beginners. Juns are a rarity, training programs are being shortened, and some of the „simple“ tasks are already being taken over by AI. And, you know, I don’t see the point in dramatizing. On the contrary, we need to broaden our focus a little,» the IT expert is convinced.
Here are a few steps that every professional should pay attention to.
«IT may be aging, but it’s not the end of an era, it’s just a transition.
The world is getting smarter, processes are getting more complex, and we need to not «stay young,» but stay flexible, curious, and human. Because no matter what you say, the best code is still written by living people,
«and not models with updates once a month,» Klymenko noted.
Not all AIT members agree with Denis’s conclusions.
WordPress Full-Stack Developer Arsen Kazydub states that the most hired are those under 25. «Anyone older is effectively a write-off,» he notes.
«No one asks how old you are if you bring results. They just look at your resume and say: we won’t take you — family, problems, hobbies. And young people will sit for 10-12 hours and be happy,» says Roman S., an IT worker with 20 years of experience. He added that he couldn’t find a job in a year. «99% of everything ends with just talking to a recruiter or being ignored. And there were more interviews after I changed my age,» Roman said.
In turn, Andriy Horovsky, who calls himself a career coach, believes that no one needs cool code, they need profitable and fast code.
«I also see that the industry is not aging, but rather maturing. Now what is important is not age, but the ability to learn quickly and work with new tools. At Atlas, we also see that those who are not afraid to experiment with AI adapt the fastest,» says Ivan Savitsky, Co-owner of the AI startup Atlas.
According to Serhiy Lysak, a Node.js full-stack developer, there is actually no place for young people in IT now. «When I started, there was work for a beginner, but they paid almost nothing. And now, there is no work for a beginner. If there is simply no work now, and there will be none tomorrow, then the question arises: what is the point of studying? You won’t become a genius just by studying something. You need practice. And it is unlikely that this will become a trend — unemployed young people join open source projects and fix bugs,» he notes.
Andriy Zilnyk, Senior NodeJs Software Engineer, partially agrees with the author of the post. But, in his opinion, the main reason now is something else — the global financial crisis and expensive loans for investing in IT. «This has happened before, remember. And as for AI, it has indeed already made its adjustments. Juns, of course, will still be needed, but not in such quantities as during the pandemic, although this is a rhetorical question. If there are no Juns, then where will the seigneurs come from?», he notes.
