Wikipedia defines ageism as “stereotyping of and discrimination against individuals or groups because of their age”.   I know we all think we are still the hotshot twenty-something programmer just out of college, but reality is a little different.

There is a programmer on our team that has 20+ years into the company. Unfortunately, most of that time was spent on archaic versions of C on non-standard operating systems. BTW, the system in question is still in use in the field.

The problem came up when she transferred to our team. We are all Java, fairly leading edge type of stuff. She had a very hard time coming up to speed. It got to the point where she has been placed doing non-programming assignments for the team.

I think this has more to do with her age than anything else. I know she is just as much at fault for not keeping up with the industry, even as other projects in the company started to embrace Java. I also think the company is at fault for not pushing her in the corporate direction sooner.

So, now, on the surface, it looks like an older employee is being pushed aside. It sure smells a lot like ageism.