I do not know how much longer I can do ‘this’; constantly striving and trying, with lack of any progress in outcomes. I have sought work since 2017 but this industry (technology) will no longer hire me. Whether it’s due to my age, my gender, my lack of a degree, it’s all so specious; with over 30 years of experience in-hand with companies whose names are well known, there’s no reason for this incessant exclusion and rejection from consideration.
I could be doing amazing things, and I’m not because humans are so biased and perfection-seeking. It makes me angry. And sad. I’ve lost so much in the last two decades and every bit of it has emphasized just how unrealistic and discriminatory this world is and likely has always been.
Apparently, because I’m over 55, I’m supposed to just give up on doing the work I enjoy and love (Product Owner, CSPO certified) and relegate myself to menial labor as a greeter, hostess, etc. Not to belittle that work for those who enjoy it, but I do not and it doesn’t offer me a livable wage (nor those who enjoy it, frankly). My body doesn’t work like it used to, so I have to be able to sit while working and, frankly, need a remote role to assure/protect against worsening what is already a three decade bout of autistic burnout. No one is willing to accommodate me, despite the fact that failure to do so is illegal and discriminatory. This is how/why the ghosting and rejections continue, I’m sure.
It is infuriating the way these companies play and game our systems with plausible deniability. More so that they are harming humans like me; driving me/us closer and closer to homelessness because we cannot be easily exploited as labor.
I see them occasionally, online, pointing at statements like mine and saying things like, “Why would we hire someone with an attitude like that?” as if they are not precisely the reason humans like me HAVE ‘an attitude like that’. Reality check – if you treated us better, none of this attitude would exist and the only reason it hasn’t harmed you yet is because this culture, society, and all of its systems have been protecting you in the name of exploitative predation’s profiteering.
Nothing lasts forever, and this worm will soon turn, too. Between the ongoing collapse of global cooperation in the face of aging and declining populations and the talent shortage due to explode into your awareness on or around 2030, you will have cause to regret this treatment and every bit of it is self-inflicted.
You could have buffered yourself by hiring the aging, the disabled and the neurodivergent; those who have begged you for inclusion all this time. Instead, you have ignored and discriminated against us all along. And when the shortage lands, many of us have and share ‘no labor’ lists about your companies.
So when you suddenly cannot find anyone willing to work for you? When your productivity and growth are imploding because you don’t have enough workers to respond to market demand or to compete against those who do (because they chose more wisely than you)? Just remember, this is self-inflicted. You did this to yourself.
Enjoy the karma of your own actions. Personally, if I’m still living, I’ll be working with a company who ‘got’ that the only way to survive what is to come was by significantly shifting their perspective and broadening their acceptance to include humans who are every bit as capable and generally more motivated as well as productive.