Is it just me, or has age become a liability at AT&T?
14 replies (most recent on top)
"Age is a liability everywhere unless you have a gov’t clearance. Why hire older folks when they can get 20 year old fresh off the boat from India? They work 20 hours a day for 50 cents on the dollar. Only take unpaid off, have no insurance, will move without notice and never complain."
Are you kidding??….Every week is a state holiday in India...Can't find anyone during US hours and (not just IBM). Always commit and say "Yes" but rarely deliver on-time or as expected, communication issues are unfathomable....need I go on and on?.....Otherwise though they are well mannered and nice to work with....
All we are is dust in the wind
@pgh - don't forget your tps report for this week. they will probably want to move your desk to into a collaboration zone.
@pgh - you sound like you fit in perfect at the big T. You sound happy and content at the big T.
@pgh Sing it Brother
Yes age is a liability and it doesn’t matter about degree, what skills you have nor your high performance.
Many people have cisco certifications as do I. What does it mean here? Nothing. Only makes sure you stay up to date to keep it. As for old people with no skills, tell me what skills you have. What are these great skills doing for your employer? These skills, are they in your mind or verified on a piece of paper? I to have verified paper, 4yr engineering, 4yr applied science, cisco cert, and what do they mean? Nothing. All we are is a number to the bean counters. If your boss even knows about your education, I’ll bet his doesn’t or anyone else up they chain. And they would’t care anyway. All anyone cares about is merting pre-defined metrics or numbers to keep their job. Customer is in the back seat.
age is a state of mind. I kept all my skills updated outside of the big T and I was born at the end of the baby boomers and when I got sick of be treated sub-human at the big T I got two offers on the first two resumes I sent out both jobs pay more with a tad less bonus. And I am learning industry standard stuff that will allow me to be marketable till I decide it is time to retire. It was work to keep my skills from deteriorating at the big T.
I am happy I am out of the sess-pool. I didn't really learn anything there anyway other than how to avoid layoffs and act like a - well - att employee. The jobs I have now the people are real human beings and it is fun to go into work. Att culture is like a funeral home.
I don't think it is age as much as it is pension and other benefits. The pension is a huge cost looming for the future and new employees don't have it so the math makes it pretty evident the writing on the wall.
In the last decades of my career, the dearth of young American kids getting hired into IT jobs at AT&T was painfully evident. AT&T is creating plenty of jobs for young IT grads, the problem is, they are all in Bangalore. The average age of an IT worker at AT&T went up because no new blood was coming in. Also AT&T developed an abysmal reputation for itself as far as IT goes due to the constant force reductions. As for skills, age doesn't matter as long as you work hard and keep current with the technology.
Old people have more vacation time , higher pay checks , larger insurance premiums, a pension to be funded...of course that makes us a liability, However , I don't buy the general statement that are not working and don't know anything. I have several Cisco certifications and work with cloud infrastructure. Don't worry though, some day that is what folks will say about you...and you will understand.
The problem w/ATT...they never fire anyone! I've been around IT for 20+ years. i have only seen a half dozen folks fired...and three of them committed felonies!!! Meanwhile, you have all these old farts, doing very little, other than collecting paychecks. If anything ATT has done a disservice to the old employees, by not kicking them to the curb a LONG time ago. These folks have done nothing for years. They have no skills. They never cared to have any skills...because they had a paycheck from ATT. Now the old folks are all crying on the boards, about getting surplussed, and having no skills. That is their own fault. Its kinda like all the minorities complaining about the govt not taking care of them. ATT OWES YOU NOTHING!!! If you worked any place other than ATT, you would have been fired 15yrs ago!
Age is a liability everywhere unless you have a gov’t clearance. Why hire older folks when they can get 20 year olds fresh off the boat from India? They work 20 hours a day for 50 cents on the dollar. Only take unpaid off, have no insurance, will move without notice and never complain.
No, not just you. And not just AT&T. Companies all over America are dumping their older workers and moving jobs to young college grads and offshore. It's illegal, but they do just enough to prevent prosecution by the government.