Managers are looking for people they can control, because companies and CEO and founders are looking for those, who they can control.
The thing is that folks who are 40-50+ are more smart when it comes to politics. It's almost impossible to screw them over with deadlines, dragging multiple times across the org. They know the law, and it's expensive to set unrealistic goals and paying with engineers' health for that. But this trick works with younger folks.
Managers can do all sorts of weird stuff to younger folks, and CEOs tolerate that:
- Work on weekends (I remember my manager was yelling at me when I didn't reply to him on Sunday, while I was working all day long on Saturday lol).
- Switch you, your team, and your folks to a totally different tech stack without a way to switch back, and see what happens (happened to me in Atlassian).
- Fire you when you sick - happened to me in Atlassian. Yes, it's illegal, but sometimes it is legal. You're getting back from being sick, and once they realize you gonna take more sick days, boom!
For example, once Atlassian found my wife has cancer, they tried to find ways to fire me. It happened September 2021. They know I gonna take extended medical leave to take care of her, and I'm eligible to do that every year. But no.
1 year after terminating my employment, my wife is still on treatment. Tomorrow is her 20th chemo.
I reached out to Mike Cannon Brookes and Scott Farquhar multiple times (Atlassian founders), it didn't help.
No reply, CEO and founders in tech tolerate ageism, and looking for ways to screw over younger folks because they can hire, and fire, and intimidate in a multitude ways.
The bottom line is that younger folks are more disposable, you can put more toll on their physical/mental health, and that's why there is a hire preference.