Working in the technology sector involves facing the “Curse of the 35“That idea, halfway between myth and the harsh reality, that when you reach that age Your career stagnates, The hiring opportunities collapse And you become a “obsolete” piece in front of younger colleagues. This perception is fed by data such as The average age of employees in technological giants: 29 years on Facebook and LinkedIn, 30 on Google and 33 in Microsoft.
Science comes to doubt it. A recent one Scientific study published by academics From the South China University of Technology and the University of New South Wales has rigorously analyzed if this barrier has some empirical justification. And the conclusion is resounding: no, you don’t have it.
The myth collapses: there is no abrupt fall of performance. To get to this conclusion, the researchers used A known methodology as ”. In simple terms, they sought a sudden and vertical fall in the performance of professionals, just at the time they turn 35. Analyzed a huge amount of data from an important Professional Networking Platformtogether with patent records and Salaries of thousands of engineers and scientists.
The result was unequivocal: there is no ‘significant discontinuity’ in the innovative performance or economic productivity of professionals when crossing the threshold of 35 years. In other words, the idea that an engineer’s ability vanishes from one day to another is simply a myth without a scientific basis.
What we do have is a productivity peak. That there is no chopped drop in productivity does not mean that the capacity for innovation is constant. The study reveals what the true professional career is, and has an inverted ‘u’.
According to the data, the A professional ability to innovate (measured in the number of patent applications that the investigated have made) increases rapidly during the twenties, it reaches its maximum point around 34 years, and from there it begins a soft and gradual decline.
A peak of innovation that varies in the sector. Depending on the specialty you have, the peak of ‘maximum success’ is different. In the case of software and communication engineers, the peak reaches its maximum at 32, while chemical engineers achieve it at the age of 31. Those who take longer to reach this are mechanical engineers, standing at 37, where accumulated experience plays a more important role.
Why does prejudice do not exist then. If the performance does not fall according to this study, the question we can ask ourselves is why that ‘myth’ arises that at 35 there is a barrier. The study points to a possible economic explanation and for this they introduced a novel metric: the performance-sailor (PIR) ratio that measures how many patents an employee produces for each euro that the company invests in its salary.
Here the curve is different. It has ‘u’. The analysis shows that this ratio is decreasing until it reaches its lowest point between 38 and 39 years. This is because, in that age strip, wages can continue to rise by seniority, while patent production has already begun its soft decrease. It is the time when an employee, from a purely numerical perspective, is ‘more expensive’ for the company.
After touching background, it will rebound again. But when a person is at the bottom of the ‘U’, he later returns to ascending. Experience, management capacity, mentoring and accumulated tactical knowledge become very valuable assets that, although they are not always reflected in a patent, are crucial for the long -term innovation of a company.
It is good news for professionals. The professional career does not end at 35, according to this study. In fact, if you are here, you are at your best. It is the ideal stage to maximize your innovative production. Facing the 40, it is strategic to start pivoting towards management, leadership or mentoring roles, where vast experience may be better to take advantage of it.
It is also a warning for companies. There are companies that can be reluctant to hire someone to exceed 35 years, but they are in a big mistake. They are losing talent that is in their performance peak. The study suggests that companies should reconsider their salary structures so that they are linked to the real performance that at ancient times. But in addition, they also advocate promoting more diverse teams with employees from different age ranges, where the most experienced can collaborate with the youngest.
The unemployment problem among the older ones. This is something that in Spain is suffered in the first person. Recently, it was seen that 47% of the unemployed in Spain are over 50 years oldwith the incentive that many will not work until they retire. Therefore there are mechanisms such as Subsidy for over 52 years to give them an economic livelihood.
But the reality is that the Spanish labor market faces that In 2030 40% of workers will be over 50 years old for the general aging of the population. This makes it right now back a qualified person just because he is olderNot the best idea. And more when we see that its productivity does not look so diminished.
Images | Agefis Vlada Karpovich
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