Where are the older people in technology?
Layla Foord
A reflection on the quiet exit of experience, and what it costs us.In almost every job I’ve had over the last decade, I’ve been one of the only people my age.That hasn’t always bothered me.I’ve stayed curious.Learned fast.Led change.But lately, I’ve started noticing something.Older people in tech ar
Older people in tech are quietly disappearing
In almost every job I’ve had over the last decade, I’ve been one of the only people my age.
That hasn’t always bothered me.
But lately, I’ve started noticing something.
The pattern
Older people in tech are quietly disappearing from meaningful roles.
Taking positions beneath their capability.
Not because they couldn’t keep up.
Because the system stopped seeing them.
Who we’re talking about
These are people who didn’t grow up with technology.
They remember:
- life before mobile phones
- before email
- before apps and tabs
They:
- recorded songs from the radio
- learned to type on typewriters, then word processors
- pressed “2” three times to get a “C” in a text message
What they actually did
They didn’t just adapt.
They bridged the shift from print to digital.
They:
- built platforms
- helped define cloud models
- uncovered new revenue streams
They weren’t handed AI tools.
They helped lay the groundwork that made them possible.
What they’re being told now
Now they’re being told to:
- “stay relevant”
- “upskill”
- “pivot”
As if they haven’t been doing exactly that for decades.
What’s really happening
Not everyone has been pushed out.
But something quieter is happening.
The erosion
I see the quiet erosion of confidence:
- a 45-year-old passed over for someone with less experience
- lower cost
- more visible enthusiasm
I see:
- strategy mistaken for slowness
- depth mistaken for hesitation
We are sidelining the very people who have lived through more waves of transformation than any other working generation.
What we’re losing
People with:
- long-range thinking
- cultural memory
- systems wisdom you can’t fast-track
This isn’t about pity
This isn’t a rallying cry for sympathy.
It’s a call to notice.
The questions to ask
- Who used to lead, but now shrinks back?
- Who’s still building, but being overlooked?
The timing matters
Many are trying to find a new sense of purpose.
- just as their kids become self-sufficient
- just as they finally have time for their careers
But their careers don’t have time for them.
What’s unfinished
We talk about inclusion.
We talk about diversity.
But rarely about experience as something we’re actively discarding.
The shift we need
Not more training.
Not more pressure to keep up.
A different kind of recognition.
One that sees:
- pattern recognition across decades
- judgment shaped by multiple cycles
- the ability to see second- and third-order effects
Because this is the irony
The people who know how to navigate change…
are the ones we’re pushing to the edges
of the biggest shift yet.
One small reminder
For those born before 2008,
this is how we used to text:
- press 2 three times for C
- wait
- hope you didn’t mess it up
We’ve been adapting all along.
The question is whether the system still knows how to recognise it.
The Pattern
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