Man, that hits close to home, and I’m nowhere close to SV, or even in tech. I was in, of all things, the newspaper business.
Kids: if you think print journalism sounds like fun, run away now. I didn’t work the news side, but production. You’ll have the long hours without the awesome pay. You’ll still have the crappy health and crappy home life, as well as working with people with substance abuse and other problems, but you won’t have the option of socking it all away. Try to get factory work if you see print media as an option.
Anyway, for that business, I’m in a weird middle zone. I’m a little bit younger than you, but: for the papers that are still hiring people, they’re looking for a.) fresh young faces to change things up, people about 11 years younger than me or younger, and b.) people with loads of experience, people at least 11 years older than me. And man, the Boomers I worked with were tight-lipped about how things were done. If they discriminate based on experience, I don’t blame 'em. And I’m overweight, prediabetic, hypertension, with some white hair coming in. I’m a real catch, honest.
I’m still waiting for that next tech bust. It reminds me too much of when I was in college, when I switched majors because I was too stupid for CS, yet was watching people who weren’t even as smart as me bombing out and going to the tech sector anyway because playing ping-pong at work was fun.
