Silicon Valley engineer shortage: is it really all about age?

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An interesting paradox in the technology world is that there is both a shortage and a surplus of engineers in the United States. Talk to those working at any Silicon Valley company, and they will tell you how hard it is to find qualified talent. But listen to the heart-wrenching stories of unemployed engineers, and you will realize that there are tens of thousands who can’t get jobs. What gives?

The harsh reality is that in the tech world, companies prefer to hire young, inexperienced, engineers. And engineering is an “up or out” profession: you either move up the ladder or face unemployment. This is not something that tech executives publicly admit, because they fear being sued for age discrimination, but everyone knows that this is the way things are.

This is true, but why?  Let's do a little mind experiment:  100 engineers work for 20 years.  50 of the engineers are adaptive, inquisitive and proactive, they rise the corporate ladder or become known as knowledge experts in a particular field or otherwise distinguish themselves.  The other 50, because they lack these attributes remain journeyman engineers doing solid if uninspired work.  

If you believed that this scenario is true (and with adjustments to the percentages, it almost certainly is) then strongly preferring a newly minted or young journeyman engineer over an older one is perfectly rational.  Based upon form, the odds that a 50 something is suddenly going to become brilliant or turn out to be a great leader are virtually nil.  While the equivalent youngster has some probability of delivering that type of excellence to you today and being a friend, colleague and contact as he rises to great heights.  And in high tech engineering, it's brilliance, innovativeness and adaptability that count, not 20 years of engineering experience.

Now knowing that, who would you rather hire?

H/T Instapundit