Is Age a Flaw? Or Is It, After All?
Ageism in IT: The Invisible Wall Experienced Professionals Keep Running Into
In recent months, the same story has been heard more and more often in Ottawa. A person with twenty or thirty years of IT experience, who has worked for the federal government or a major corporation, suddenly finds themselves back on the job market. Their résumé is impressive: systems architecture, cybersecurity, project management. Yet after sending out dozens of applications — silence.
For many professionals over forty, this comes as an unexpected discovery: experience, it turns out, is not always an advantage. Sometimes it becomes a problem.
In the National Capital Region, the issue is particularly painful. Ottawa is one of Canada’s largest IT hubs. Thousands of programmers, systems administrators, analysts and cybersecurity specialists work here, many of them employed by federal departments or companies serving government projects. Among them are many Russian-speaking professionals who came to Canada at different times and built successful careers here.
However, recent layoffs in the public sector and technology companies have dramatically changed the situation. People who for years were considered indispensable experts have suddenly encountered a phenomenon they had previously only read about in articles. It is called ageism — discrimination based on age.
Ageism in Action
Imagine an elegant woman in her sixties applying for a job as an exotic dancer at a nightclub. The manager barely looks at her before saying aloud: “You’re too old for this job.” The woman files an age-discrimination lawsuit and wins. She receives substantial compensation. A precedent is set.
Since then, no competent HR manager will tell you directly, “We’re not hiring you because of your age.” Instead, you will hear: “Your profile isn’t the right fit,” “We’re looking for a different skill set,” or, most subtly of all: “You’re overqualified.”
That last phrase has become a true corporate euphemism of the twenty-first century. “Overqualified” is often a code word hiding a simple message: you are too old.
An Ancient Instinct in a Corporate Suit
Ageism, or discrimination based on age, was described and named as early as 1969 by American psychiatrist Robert Butler. But the phenomenon itself is far older.
In some cultures of the past, there existed a grim tradition of abandoning elderly people when they were no longer considered “useful.” Nomadic peoples living under harsh conditions sometimes left frail elders behind to die because they slowed the group’s chances of survival. The famous Japanese legend of Ubasute — the mountain where sons supposedly carried their elderly mothers — reflects this archetypal fear of becoming a “burden.”
The animal world offers similar examples: an aging male lion may be driven out of the pride by younger rivals. An old leader of a wolf pack may give way or die. Nature can be merciless toward those who “cannot keep up.”
The corporate environment, cynical as it may sound, sometimes reproduces the same logic. Only instead of fangs, it uses résumé-screening algorithms.
The Map of Discrimination: Where Is It Worst?
The situation varies from country to country, but nowhere is it particularly encouraging.
In the United States, the cult of youth has been taken to an extreme, especially in Silicon Valley. There is a half-joking but very real stereotype: if you are over thirty-five and have not founded a startup, you are a “dinosaur.” Laws against age discrimination exist — including the ADEA, adopted in 1967 — but discrimination continues to thrive under the guise of “cultural fit.”
In Canada, including Ottawa, the approach is subtler, but not necessarily kinder. Professionals aged 45 and older can be especially vulnerable, and if you are also an immigrant, you may face a double disadvantage: accent plus age. The IT and consulting sectors can be just as strongly youth-oriented as those in the United States.
In Europe, age inclusion is officially promoted, but in practice, a professional over 50 working in ERP or digital transformation may discover that doors are closed — simply closed politely and with a smile.
China has perhaps set a record for bluntness: in parts of the country’s technology sector, age 35 has become a widely recognized threshold after which career prospects can narrow sharply.
A Paradox That Makes You Want to Laugh — or Cry
The very same companies that reject experienced candidates simultaneously complain about shortages of qualified professionals, lack of expertise and the absence of employees capable of handling complex situations.
They pay recruiters to search for “rare talent,” while systematically filtering out precisely those people who may possess the deepest expertise.
It is not merely unfair. It is foolish.
But these are the rules of the game, and until we change them, we have to know how to play by them.
How to Survive: Practical Advice for Job Seekers
If you are 45, 50 or 55 and are entering the job market now, at a time when a wave of public-sector layoffs in Ottawa has sent thousands of experienced professionals back into the job market, here are some things that can genuinely help:
• Do not include your university graduation year on your résumé. It can serve as an immediate indicator of age.
• Limit your employment history to the past 15–20 years. Instead of writing “35 years in the industry,” say “extensive experience in…” or simply list positions beginning around 2005–2008.
• Update your LinkedIn photo — not to make yourself look younger, but to present yourself as energetic, professional and current.
• Familiarize yourself with today’s technology stack, even at a basic level. Mentioning AI tools, cloud platforms or agile methodologies can change how your résumé is perceived.
• Focus on networking rather than relying entirely on applications through job portals. Many senior-level positions are filled through referrals before they are ever publicly advertised.
• Consider contract work and consulting. Experience is often valued more highly there, while age-related biases may be less pronounced.
Ageism is not merely a problem for those who are “already old.” It is a problem for a system that loses wisdom by choosing youth over experience.
The history of technology shows that the most resilient and complex systems are built not only by young geniuses, but also by people with extensive experience.
The paradox of the IT industry is that it develops at breathtaking speed while often undervaluing one of its greatest competitive advantages: accumulated knowledge.
Until lawmakers, HR directors and CEOs recognize that experience is an asset, not an archive, we need to understand and respect the rules of the game.
In the technology race, the winner is not the youngest — but the best prepared.
Anastasia Chupina