this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2026

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153

‘I feel invisible’: over-50s reveal harsh realities of trying to get a job (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by GolfFoxtrotLima@sh.itjust.works to c/news@lemmy.world

22 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/52064616

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[–] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 76 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I don't think this is limited to over-50s...

[–] TryingToBeGood@reddthat.com 44 points 2 weeks ago

My colleagues think I must like my work because I've been there so long; no, it’s just that the older I get, the lower my chances of being able to find another job. No one’s going to hire a 63 year old without very specialized skills.

[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 30 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

So… over 50s are starting to face the reality that under-50s have been dealing with since the over-50s were hunting for their first job?

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 15 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I love how quickly an issue gen-x was experiencing is suddenly about someone else.

[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 weeks ago

Thing is, Gen-X has always felt invisible and under appreciated. And for good reason. This shouldn’t be a new realization.

[–] RecursiveParadox@piefed.social 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

We truly are the new invisible generation. I have an ultra specialized job in a hyper specialized field, but if I lost this job there are less than 20 companies in the entire world who could hire me. And why hire me when you can get a Millennial or Zoomer to do it for 2/3 my cost? They won't be as good or have as wide a network, but they will be good enough .

And I say this as a man actively training my number 1 to take over the departments I run eventually.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 27 points 2 weeks ago

Ageism is a plague on the workplace. I see it everywhere.

[–] Leviathan@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago

When some of your work skills are no longer relevant so they start treating you the way they treat young people just stepping into the work force. Next they'll start saying that they don't deserve a living wage (or are they already saying that?).

This is why worker solidarity is a must. They'll make you starve for their bottom line.

[+] rekabis@lemmy.ca -19 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

If your job experience is anywhere near the digital field, look into satisfying a need by building a digital product that can earn money for you. Customers don’t care how old you are, they just want to span a needs gap with your product. Bonus if it solves a real business need, as companies can be much more open to spending obscene amounts to save a few pennies. Downside to this is you may have to rely on “spray and pray” - actively developing 10, 20, or even more ideas until either one in particular takes off or until the aggregate income across all is sufficient.

Edit: people, the digital field has the very lowest barrier to entrance other than ditch-diggers. All you need is a free, second-hand computer and a hosting package that costs a few bucks a month.

I’m not talking about firing up a 50+ person startup that makes you stupidly wealthy when it’s sold to private equity for millions. If this is what you thought, you’ve got SFB.

I’m talking about building a stable of 10-30 digital products that, over a year or three of steady visibility, each of them will eventually bring you in a few hundred to a thousand or two dollars of income per month on a consistent basis, especially if it’s a product that has a legitimate server/online component that demands an ongoing subscription.

Down that second path you have the opportunity to make a comfortable and very liveable wage by NOT putting all your eggs (effort, resources) into one bag, thereby diversifying your income in ways that doesn’t demand daily, ongoing, persistent labour.

Will it make you wealthy? Almost assuredly not. But it will put food on your table, a roof over your head, and give you a reasonably comfortable life without wearing the shackles of needing to be wildly profitable to someone else.

[–] MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net 14 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

[–] MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

wow. that was a well thought-ot metaphor! spot on. One could say, bull's eye!

[–] rekabis@lemmy.ca -1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Regular entrepreneurship, sure.

Digital products, not so much. Down that route sits - for most products - three low costs: a computer, your time and effort, and a few bucks in hosting costs a month.

I’m not talking about creating another Facebook. That’s stupid.

I’m talking about identifying a really small service gap and punting something out that takes maybe a month of work (at most, the average should be a week for an experienced dev) but which can generate recurring income without any ongoing input from you. It’ll require hosting and a little upkeep as bugs and edge cases are identified, but that’s all of the ongoing costs.

This mantra of “bigger, dipshit, bigger” is what drives most projects into the ground. Think small, think limited in scope, think off the beaten path, think easy to build, think cheap to keep up and running, think too small for anyone else to bother becoming a competitor, think clear value for customers.

If you are wanting to turn this into a 50+ employee operation that makes you filthy fucking rich and where you can eventually sell it off to private equity for millions, you’ve got SFB. That’s not the point.

The point is to build something that will consistently earn you a living wage without you having to destroy your mind or body working like a dog all the time. It’ll be something that eventually winds down to a few hours a month in maintenance as decently non-trivial - for that time+effort - money continues to roll in

[–] MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

imagine you are 55vyo, jobless. pehaps you have almost enough savings to retire. now contemplate investing your remaining money into a startup, knowing the odds of success are low.

taking that chance could land you homeless with greater probability than being moderately successful.

[–] rekabis@lemmy.ca -1 points 2 weeks ago

Who said anything about a startup?

Tech is one of those industries where one can stand up a digital product with almost no resources aside from time and effort, a computer, and maybe a few bucks in hosting per month.

And so what if a product gets you only a few hundred in recurring income per month… if you have a dozen or two wildly different ideas working for you, that adds up to several thousand a month.