Here is where this awful article's bait-and-switch happens:
> Brown and Linden’s analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census data for the semiconductor industry revealed that although salaries increased dramatically for engineers in their 30s, these increases slowed after the age of 40. After 50, the mean salary fell by 17% for those with bachelors degrees and by 14% for those with masters degrees and Ph.Ds. And salary increases for holders of postgraduate degrees were always lower than for those with bachelor’s degrees (in other words, even Ph.D degrees didn’t provide long-term job protection).
> It’s the same in the software industry. Prominent Silicon Valley investors often talk about youth being an advantage in entrepreneurship. If you look at their investment portfolios, all you see are engineers who are hardly old enough to shave. They rarely invest in people who are old.
The first paragraph, which contains the data that gives the veneer of respectability, is about the semiconductor industry. Even then, salaries don't actually decrease until people hit the beginning of retirement age (surprise!).
In the second paragraph, we switch to the software industry, where it's "the same" (no data to support that, natch). The supporting anecdote isn't even about employees, but investees... What proportion of people receiving money in the software industry do so via investment rather than a paycheck?
Of course the specter of ageism haunts everyone, so the linkbait is effective and we have 60+ comments here.
> Brown and Linden’s analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census data for the semiconductor industry revealed that although salaries increased dramatically for engineers in their 30s, these increases slowed after the age of 40. After 50, the mean salary fell by 17% for those with bachelors degrees and by 14% for those with masters degrees and Ph.Ds. And salary increases for holders of postgraduate degrees were always lower than for those with bachelor’s degrees (in other words, even Ph.D degrees didn’t provide long-term job protection).
> It’s the same in the software industry. Prominent Silicon Valley investors often talk about youth being an advantage in entrepreneurship. If you look at their investment portfolios, all you see are engineers who are hardly old enough to shave. They rarely invest in people who are old.
The first paragraph, which contains the data that gives the veneer of respectability, is about the semiconductor industry. Even then, salaries don't actually decrease until people hit the beginning of retirement age (surprise!).
In the second paragraph, we switch to the software industry, where it's "the same" (no data to support that, natch). The supporting anecdote isn't even about employees, but investees... What proportion of people receiving money in the software industry do so via investment rather than a paycheck?
Of course the specter of ageism haunts everyone, so the linkbait is effective and we have 60+ comments here.