As a 33 year old tech worker, I have specifically accelerated by plans of getting out of tech by my mid 30s due to ageism in the industry (unless I decide to start my own "lifestyle" startup I can live off of).
I'm not going to be a good culture fit when I want work/life balance, no more than 40 hours a week of work, not on call 24/7, etc.
EDIT: Perhaps I've just been working the wrong gigs. Thanks for the feedback all.
40 hours a week, never-on call, isn't really a problem on the East coast (DC/Georgia/Florida) markets. In fact, I'd say the reverse bias is through in DC/VA/Maryland. Small to mid-size employers expect you to have a family, move permanently into the area, and stay with them for 5+ years.
come to seattle. dozens of recruiters will bug you on linked in. dozens of big companies have 100-500 openings. no one can hold on to people unless they have good salary, good working conditions.
I'm a mid-30s tech worker. I've never had problems maintaining a work/life balance across jobs from tiny startups to larger 2000+ person companies. If you do want to stay in tech as you grow older, there are places to go that don't require abandoning your family.
> no more than 40 hours a week of work, not on call 24/7
I work at a startup in NYC and our culture is like that. Seems like you might want to explore the culture at other companies. There is no reason you need to kill yourself to work in tech. Work/life balance is important at many companies. It leads to longer-term employees, higher morale, better team-work etc (anecdotally speaking as I have worked for companies at all ends of the spectrum).
